The Plenary of the European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on all parties involved to help European citizens understand fully and exploit the benefits of the Single Market.
The resolution points out that the EU citizens still do not benefit fully from the single market. It also stresses the difficulties of registering cars abroad, opening bank accounts or having professional qualifications recognised and blames these problems on member states` reluctance to implement EU rules swiftly, coordinate with each other and inform citizens of their rights.
Rapporteur Regina Bastos said that “in certain areas of our daily lives, so many simple things are still very complex, hard and expensive, such as the reimbursement of medical expenses after a temporary stay in another EU country, the opening of a bank account by an Erasmus student, or the recognition of qualifications and of the car number plate in another member state”.
The non-binding resolution calls on the Commission to present "concrete actions and feasible proposals" to tackle the top 20 concerns identified by citizens and businesses. It also points to over 2000 cases in which member states have failed to implement EU single market law correctly or in full.
As regards the cost of vehicle registration, the resolution notes that if European citizens decide to move to other member state and want to take their car with them they face complex car registration procedures, including providing documentation that does not exist in their own country and paying additional taxes. Therefore, the European Parliament calls on the member states to minimise the financial cost of registering vehicles and to recognise each other’s` technical controls.
As far as the right to have a bank account is concerned, the European Parliament points out that 30 million European citizens have been prevented by banks from opening a bank account, thus hindering mobility in the single market. The resolution calls on the Commission to table legislation to ensure consumer-friendly procedures for opening bank accounts across the Union.
In addition, the Resolution calls for a European professional card, in order to speed up the recognition of professional qualifications and thereby facilitate the mobility of workers between Member States.
Finally, the European Parliament recognises that there is a lack of information about the single market and calls on the Commission, member states, regional and local authorities, and civil society representatives to launch regular European interactive information campaigns highlighting the benefits of the single market, practical and concrete solutions to their day-to-day problems, and their rights.
