EU unveils plan to modernise single market

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BRUSSELS, Nov 21 (Xinhua): The European Commission yesterday unveiled an ambitious plan to modernise the single market of the European Union (EU), aiming to break down remaining barriers for the benefit of consumers and small businesses.
"Today's package puts consumers and small businesses first. It marks the start of a new cycle for the single market. We need to make the strong base we already have work even better," said the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
Among its most important policy actions, the EU's executive arm identified 23 important sectors where there are signs of market malfunctioning, including distribution activities, financial services, post, telecommunications and professional services.
They combined together account for 44.5 per cent of EU value added and 46.5 per cent of EU employment.
The commission said it will take action where markets do not deliver for consumers. As part of those efforts, it presented a controversial plan last week to reform the 27-nation bloc's telecoms rules, proposing to split national giants and create a EU-level body to safeguard the single market.
This time, the commission will make proposals to further integrate retail financial services markets, to improve consumers' financial literacy and to facilitate switching bank accounts without a closing fee.
The purpose of the strategy is to enable well-informed citizens to choose appropriate products and services that meet their needs from a wide range of products and suppliers at a reasonable price, and to have access to adequate redress should things go wrong, the commission said.