Most EU Member States Lagging Behind On Implementation Of Internal Market Laws

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

31 January 2005

According to figures released by the European Commission on Thursday, just two of the 25 EU member states have reached the target agreed for the implementation of internal markets laws, namely to have just 1.5% outstanding.

Speaking following the release of the Internal Market Strategy Implementation Scoreboard, Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy praised Spain and Lithuania, which both managed to hit the target. He also drew attention to the improvement shown on last year's figures by Germany and France (which nevertheless have 40 and 50 laws outstanding respectively), and to the strong performances shown by new member states, Hungary and Poland.

However, he expressed disappointment that several countries which performed well last year in this area (such as the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Finland) have slipped down the list.

"The single market cannot function if Member States do not write Directives into national law on time. We are not talking about the “Brussels diktats” of Eurosceptic myth, or about arbitrary dates the Commission dreams up. These are European laws, and timetables for putting them into practice, agreed by the Member States themselves in the Council. I take the old-fashioned view that a Minister’s signature on a Directive should be a firm commitment, not a vague aspiration," he announced last week.

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