Announcing a bundle of measures ranging from revised rules on car registration, package holidays and cross-border healthcare, Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, promised “everyday solutions to the everyday problems of citizens”.
She styled the measures as a plan to improve “effective EU citizenship” and said they were based on the “25 main obstacles that citizens may confront throughout their lives based on their complaints”.
Reding launched her initiative together with Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, who unveiled plans for a single market act to reassert the benefits of a European single market.
“Markets need to serve both the economy and our citizens,” Barnier said, adding that the single market was not delivering as well as it might.
Reding, who is still carving out a policy identity for herself as commissioner for citizenship, presented a report on “progress towards effective EU citizenship” in the last three years. “This Commission's political objective is that EU citizenship progresses to become a tangible reality in [citizens'] daily lives,” the report said, and referred to a pledge by José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, on “revitalising the link between the citizens and the EU”.
Reding's staff have promised 25 measures that will be taken in the next three years “to improve the daily life of EU citizens”.
First on the list is making it easier for international couples to know which courts have jurisdiction over their property rights. Last on the list is “ways to further strengthen information on European affairs” – including “more sustainable financing of Euronews”.
Reding said she wanted to improve consumers' rights by improving protection for travellers who book holidays over the internet. Existing consumer protection covers only packages combining travel and accommodation, while more and more consumers are buying flights and hotels separately. There are also plans to improve consular protection for EU citizens in cases where their home member state does not have consular facilities.
The citizenship plan includes measures to make the registration of cars easier in other EU countries and avoid double taxation.
Reding said in presenting her proposals that the EU's Treaty of Lisbon had given additional rights to EU citizens. “All these new rights are wonderful,” she said, “but what if the citizens don't know about them?” Several of her proposals are supposed to make information about the EU more easily accessible to EU citizens.
Monique Goyens, secretary-general of BEUC, the European consumers' organisation, said: “The Commission proposal contains valuable initiatives. What must follow are the implementation of measures which really benefit consumers.”
The Commission will draw up a report in 2013, the European year of citizenship, assessing the actions outlined in the plan.
The single-market act includes initiatives to help small and medium-sized businesses obtain financing, simplify accounting rules and improve access to public procurement contracts. The Commission will also propose measures to improve the market for digital music by creating a one-stop shop for artists to sell their work throughout the EU.
