Highlights - Exchange of views with Commissioner Thierry Breton on COVID-19 outbreak - 2 April - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

The Committee held an exchange of views with Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton on the current situation of crisis. Mr. Breton stressed out the need to protect the internal market and ensuring the circulation of goods within the EU and presented the actions EC has overtaken in this regard, such as work to ensure the increased production of protective equipment and medical devices, issuing standards to ensure quicker placing on the market of these essential products,

monitoring exports of needed products using the algorithms and predicting the peaks of pandemic.

He highlighted that financial relief plans are ongoing, which include financial support to Member States and businesses.

There was common understanding on the need to preserve the internal market and ensure the circulation of goods, in particular of protective equipment, masks and medical devices, and to provide help to citizens and businesses, in particular small and medium sized enterprises.

The Groups also expressed broad support to the actions of the European Commission and encouraged it to take further measures to reduce the impact of this crisis. The questions such as data protection, product safety, avoiding consumer disinformation, easier certification for essential products, use of AI and robotics to cope with the crisis and further actions that could help Member States that are heavily affected were also raised during the discussion.