EU Founding Members Slowest To Implement Internal Market Laws, Says EC

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

21 January 2004

According to figures recently released by the European Commission, four of the founding members of the European Union have the worst record for implementing internal market laws on time.

In a report published last week, the EC revealed that Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg all have between 52 and 54 directives overdue to be implemented into national law, more than double the European Council's target level of 1.5% of directives not implemented by agreed deadlines.

Star performers include Denmark, which has just 5 directives overdue, closely followed by Spain, with 14 overdue directives still to be implemented. The UK, Ireland, and Finland all have 21 to 22 directives still to be implemented, and could therefore improve their performance in this area, according to the EC.

However, Ireland was singled out for praise following a massive push by the Irish government to more than halve its shortfall prior to the country's assumption of the EU Presidency.

Speaking with regard to the results last week, Internal Market Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein observed that:

"It is disappointing that some Member States appear to consider that it is acceptable to regularly implement Directives late and to incorrectly apply commonly agreed rules. This is unfair to those Member States that do get laws on to their statute books on time and then apply them properly. It gives rise to a real opportunity cost and so harms the competitiveness of the EU economy."

He went on to add:

"With enlargement imminent, it is important that Member States, both current and new, respect their obligations to implement and apply commonly agreed rules, as the costs of fragmentation will increase significantly in an enlarged EU. It is time Ministers took personal responsibility for their Member State's performance."

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