Posts Tagged internal market

It’s like waiting for a bus. For ages there is none. And then suddenly several arrive at once. So it was on Wednesday at the European Commission. A stupendous nothingness for some weeks as the EU’s internal market teeters under the weight of national aid packages, then several announcements at the same time.

All of the commission’s bigwigs were on the Brussels stage at one point or another today – commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and his colleagues in charge of industry, competition, internal market and economic affairs.

The raft of proposals – on regulating the financial system, coping with toxic assets and the correct application of state aid rules – are a sign that the commission is trying to wrest back control of the economic crisis discussion after weeks of being upstaged by member states.

They are to feed into an emergency summit on Sunday where EU leaders are supposedly to discuss how not to fall into a protectionist spiral.

But will member states tread the EU line? So far, they have issued a rash of national measures. Brussels is currently examining plans to rescue the domestic car industries in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden and the UK to see if they breach state aid rules.

Industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen warned there is a “dark cloud” hanging over Europe while his fellow commissioners again stressed the importance of upholding the principles of the free market.

However, pre-summit discourse has not been very encouraging. French president Nicolas Sarkozy was once again sounding the protectionist bell but this time at an EU level in response to US protectionism. Despite its efforts, the commission may not be able to make itself heard among the cacophony of national voices.