working group
“Internal Market and Services"

The Internal Market re-launch dynamic is at the same time a political but also social and economic challenge for the EU. Despite permanent progress, the construction of the internal market still remains incomplete, which is not eased by the new conditions of deeper globalisation, of empowerment of the emerging countries, and last but not least of a strong economic and financial crisis.

In this context, Michel BARNIER, new commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, faces an ambitious challenge: give a new impulsion to the grand project of the Single Market, and gather conditions of a market oriented and dedicated to citizens, consumers and enterprises. These crucial issues can also be measured as the task of M. BARNIER will imply a close coordination with 13 other commissioners.

The EU Commission is focusing on a new vision of the Internal Market, broadened and comprehensive. Throughout the EU2020 strategy to be adopted by the Council in March 2010, the Commission shows a high interest for a social market economy, and for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Internal Market is one key element of the EU growth dynamic. It aims at offering the necessary instruments to enhance knowledge and innovation, low-carbon economy, full-employment as well as social and territorial cohesion.

The Internal Market embodies a wide range of EU competences, as for major ones employment policies with mobility and training issues, intellectual property policies with the Community Patent, SMEs regulation policies, or initiatives related to public markets. The potential offer of services – that count for 70% of the EU GDP – and the likely new jobs to be created are significant for the Internal Market challenges.

In this context, Confrontations Europe sets up the new working group “Internal Market and Services”, which aims at developing its activities mostly in Brussels.

This group will be supported by a Coordination Committee, in charge of defining the main orientations and supervising the activities. Including Confrontations Europe’s founding president Philippe HERZOG and president Claude FISCHER, it gathers MEPs, EU Commission, enterprises and academics representatives. In parallel, this Committee would also converse with EU stakeholders on key IM news. The working group aims at gathering institutional stakeholders – both from the EU and the Member States –, experts and academics, and civil society representatives, from business or trade-union fields. Following the EU agenda, it will develop on major and plurisectoral issues related to the Internal Market, bring the discussion around them and seek for new perspectives to turn into concrete proposals.

5 main topics will guide the group’s initiatives:
 Social and fiscal issues, which are to be part of the IM completion.
 Investment in EU Public Goods
 Investment in knowledge and innovation
 The IM and the global market (external dimension of the IM)
 Regional cohesion and solidarity.

More specific issues will be discussed, among which Public Services, in cooperation with the EP Public Services Intergroup on services of general interest (SGI – SSGI), the Services Directive implementation, the Single Market contributions to the industrial sector, the digital IM, the SMEs funding system or the links between IM and environment.

This group “Internal Market and Services” takes the advantage of the important track-record of Confrontations Europe on the subject, particularly with the previous works of Philippe HERZOG on collective goods, and the activities of the former working group “Internal Market” closed in 2008.

More information in French