Professor Mario Monti attends ECR group meeting

Strasbourg, 15th December 2009

Strasbourg, 15th December 2009 -- Professor Mario Monti, a former European Commissioner who has been asked by commission president Barroso to prepare a high-level report on completion of the Single Market, held an exchange of views with the ECR group on the 15th December 2009.

He told ECR members that his report will focus on two key issues - implementation and enforcement of the Single Market. He also emphasised that he felt it should be called the 'Single Market' rather than the 'Internal Market' because Internal Market has connotations that it is only open to EU Member States, while active non-EU countries, such as Norway also benefit. The Single Market should be global.

He will present his report around April 2010.

In response to Prof Monti's comments, ECR single market coordinator Adam Bielan said that whilst the ECR is sceptical about closer political integration, it strongly supports the single market.

ECR chairman of the single market committee in the parliament Malcolm Harbour said that the principle of mutual recognition is crucial and he suggested that all future impact assessments from the European Commission should comply with the treaty principles of the single market - a 'single market test' for future legislation.

Contact: James Holtum on +32 473 861762

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