By Chris Jones - 1st February 2007
Charlie McCreevy has backed a suggestion by German chancellor Angela Merkel that the EU and US should create a giant single market.
“I think it is a good idea to extend the internal market to other countries such as the US,” the Irish internal market commissioner said on Thursday.
“Of course, in any bureaucracy there will always be conservative voices who can come up with reasons for not doing something, but I have told all my services to do all they can to support chancellor Merkel’s idea.”
“It would certainly boost EU-US economic ties, and that would be good for both continents.”
Merkel made the suggestion that the two continents should work more closely together during the world economic forum in Davos at the end of January.
She said that forging closer ties with the US would not undermine Europe’s independence or slow its own integration but would rather help the two partners find more common ground on everything from trade tariffs to intellectual property rights.
McCreevy, who was unveiling new figures on the rate of transposition of EU directives into national law, also had some harsh words for member states on the European patent.
“The proposal for an EU-wide patent is stuck in the mud,” he said. “It is clear to me from discussions with member states that there is no consensus at present on how to improve the situation.”
The patent proposal has been blocked for years over disagreements between member states, mainly on the always thorny issue of what language to use.
The commission’s proposal is that all patents be published only in one of the three official EU working languages – French, German or English – rather than the language of any country where the patent holder wants to register.
This is meant to reduce translation costs and speed up the patent process – but France has refused to ratify the proposal amid fears that most patents will be written in English.
McCreevy was in no doubt about where the blame lay for the delay.
“Organisations need to put pressure on their own member states to move on this, it is up to them.”
“There is no point lobbying here in Brussels, we are converts; this is being blocked by member states, so do the lobbying there.”
He said that the commission would publish a new report later this year setting out a list of possible options to overcome the deadlock.
“Putting out the options might help member states finally move towards a compromise.”
McCreevy also repeated his position on the thorny issue of gambling, conceding that he was considering taking legal action against the US at the WTO over new rules that discriminate against foreign service providers.
“My thinking on this issue is entirely consistent – whether in the EU or elsewhere, authorities must allow companies from oustide their national territory to benefit from the same conditions as those based within them,” McCreevy said.
“It is not my intention to harmonise gambling rules in the EU – we would never get agreement, as each country’s culture is totally different, so it would be an absolute waste of time.”
“But the case law is quite clear that EU countries must apply the same rules on service providers based in other countries, and it would seem that we have a prima facie case against the US on similar grounds.”
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