According to the European Commission’s latest Internal Market Scoreboard, EU member states have made their best ever progress in implementing agreed Internal Market rules into national law.
The Commission stated that on average only 1.6 per cent of Internal Market Directives for which the implementation deadline has passed are not currently written into national law. This is down from 1.9 per cent in July 2005 and is very close to the 1.5 per cent interim target agreed by the Heads of State. Individual progress has been made by 'old' and 'new' member states alike, but overall 'new' EU countries, with an average deficit of 1.2 per cent, are performing substantially better than the 'old' ones.
However, too often, member states fail to apply Internal Market rules correctly, including Malta. The European Commission stated that only five countries have managed to reduce the number of infringement proceedings against them.
The report noted that the high number of infringement cases against Malta, Poland and the Czech Republic seems to suggest that there is a problem of incorrect application of internal market legislation in these member states that needs to be addressed.
The European Commission explained that the Internal Market plays a key role in achieving the EU's objective of creating more growth and jobs. It has created millions of jobs and billions of euros in extra prosperity and also gives EU citizens a wider choice of quality goods and services and greater freedom to travel, work, study and live in other EU countries, while making for a more efficient allocation of resources and offering greater trading opportunities to businesses. The Commission added that however, the Internal Market can only achieve its full potential if legislation agreed at European level is effectively implemented and applied by all member states.
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