International

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong has described his response to the European Commission's new political line regarding the internal market as 'enthusiastic'. "The Commission says that the internal market must be given a social face. From now on the public rather than the big corporations must be given centre stage. Workers' rights must be secured and strengthened and the interests of small and medium-sized firms better served. Criticisms which the SP has long had regarding the functioning of the internal market have now been embraced by the Commission."

Starting point for discussion

The fifty proposals presented today by the European Commission represent the starting point for a discussion set to last four months. De Jong can also see a number of points for improvement and will be bringing these to the commission. He wants to see the EU giving recognition to a European right to strike, as was proposed several months ago in a report to the Commission by former Commissioner Professor Mario Monti. In addition, the proposed social impact study, which the Commission wants to see conducted in the case of every newly proposed EU law, must include concrete benchmarks; otherwise, he says, it will have no force. Lastly, De Jong is pleased to see the tendering procedure for public contracts made more accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "The commission is always giving plenty of attention to SMEs, but in words only, and the deeds too often contradict these words. I will be asking Commissioner Barnier therefore to hold to the recent promise he made to me to give support to small shops and those in remote places, because of the social function that these shops perform."

Financial sector tackled

At the presentation Commissioner Barnier laid into the financial sector with unprecedented vehemence, describing the sector's privatisation as a caricature of good policy and saying that everything possible would be done to prevent taxpayers again becoming the victims of greedy bankers. "I hope that the Commission will therefore at last come to an agreement with the member states regarding a bank levy. I also want to see as soon as possible a minimum level of corporation tax so that the race to the bottom between member states to see who can impose the lowest rate is at last brought to an end."