European Commissioner for Internal Market & Services

European Commissioner for Internal Market & Services is a member of the European Commission. The post is currently held by Commissioner Charlie McCreevy (UEN).

The portfolio concerns the development of the 480 million strong European single market, promoting free movement of people, goods, services and capital.

Current commissioner

Commissioner McCreevy's stated priorities [http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/mccreevy/priorities_en.htm] are;
* To maximize the potential of the Internal Market to boost growth and employment.
* To eliminate remaining barriers to an effectively functioning internal market for services across Member States.
* To deepen the integration of Europe’s capital markets and improve its financial infrastructure so that the cost of capital is reduced, the inefficiencies of fragmentation are minimized, and competition is intensified to the overall benefit of Europe’s economy.
* To ensure that existing internal market rules are properly enforced.
* To improve public procurement procedures to ensure that the European taxpayer gets value for money.
* To ensure an effective framework for the protection of intellectual property rights to encourage innovation in the new knowledge economy.

Directives McCreevy has been involved with include the directives on;
* Services in the internal market
* Patentability of computer-implemented inventions

McCreevy's head of cabinet is Martin Power, his deputy head is Claire Bury and his spokesperson is Oliver Drewes.

Frits Bolkestein (1999-2004)

Commissioner Frits Bolkestein (Netherlands) served in the Prodi Commission between 1999 and 2004. In addition to holding the Internal Market portfolio he also held Taxation & Customs Union. His head of cabinet was Laurs Nørlund.

Bolkestein is most notable for the Directive on services in the internal market, which is commonly called the "Bolkestein Directive". The directive aimed at enabling a company from a one member-state to recruit workers in another member-state under the law of the company's home state. It was to help the development of the internal market for services, the development of which has lagged behind that for goods.

However there was a great deal of concern about its effect on social standards and welfare, triggering competition between various parts of Europe. This led to significant protests across Europe against the directive including a notable protest at the European Parliament in Strasbourg by port workers which led to damage to the building. MEPs eventually reached a compromise on the text and the Parliament adopted it on 12 December 2006; 2 years after Bolkestein left office, under the Barroso Commission.

List of commissioners

*Piero Malvestiti (of Italy) - Hallstein Commission I (1958-1959)
*Giuseppe Caron (of Italy) - Hallstein Commission I & II (1959-1963)
*Guido Colonna di Paliano (of Italy) - Hallstein Commission II (1964-1967)
*Hans von der Groeben (of West Germany) - Rey Commission (1967-1970)
*Wilhelm Haferkamp (of West Germany) - Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions (1970-1973)
*Finn Olav Gundelach (of Denmark) - Ortoli Commission (1973-1977)
*Étienne Davignon (of Belgium) - Jenkins Commission (1977-1981)
*Karl-Heinz Narjes (of Germany) - Thorn Commission (1981-1985)
*Lord Cockfield (of the United Kingdom) - Delors Commission I (1985-1989)
*Martin Bangemann (of Germany) - Delors Commission II & III (1989-1994)
*Raniero Vanni d'Archiraf (of Italy) - Delors Commission III (1992-1994)
*Mario Monti (of Italy) - Santer Commission (1994-1999)
*Frits Bolkestein (of Netherlands) - Prodi Commission (1999-2004)
*Charlie McCreevy (of Ireland) - Barroso Commission (2004-2009)

ee also

* Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services
* Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market
* European Commissioner for Competition
* European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry
* Directive on services in the internal market
* Markets in Financial Instruments Directive

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm Commission Internal Market website] ec.europa.eu
* [http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/index_en.htm Internal Market & Services DG website] ec.europa.eu
* [http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/mccreevy/index_en.htm Commissioner McCreevy's website] ec.europa.eu
** [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/2006/mccreevy/ Interview with Charlie McCreevy by Jamie Smyth] ireland.com
** [http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/Interviews/200507/0e723c67-bdc2-4626-a497-d70c41f4b1c7.htm Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner responsible for Internal Market and Services] eupolitix.com
* [http://ec.europa.eu/archives/commission_1999_2004/bolkestein/index_en.htm Archived Bolkestein website] ec.europa.eu
** [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4698524.stm Q&A: Services Directive] news.bbc.co.uk
** [http://www.euractiv.com/en/innovation/services-internal-market/article-132241 Services in the Internal Market] euractiv.com