Consumers to benefit from market reform - McCreevy

EU internal markets commissioner Charlie McCreevy has promised the reform of the EU single market will introduce immediate benefit to consumers, especially in retail financial services.

The single market would be extended to create greater choice and competition in mortgages, insurance, banking and credit cards, Mr McCreevy told a meeting at the European Commission's offices in Dublin yesterday.

He singled out cross-border mortgages as an area of expansion. "Currently, less than 1 per cent of mortgages in the EU are cross-border, but even if you increased that to 5 per cent, in a market worth over €4.7 trillion, that's an extraordinary amount of money," he said.

In the card market, he said the payment services directive would help create a single European payment area, so consumers would be able to use their bank card, regardless of where they were in the EU. It would also become easier to open bank accounts in other member states.

"Another priority is professional services, where barriers reduce competition, push up prices and restrict citizens' rights to practise their profession in another member state."

However, the liberalisation of the insurance market would not take place overnight, he warned, because of the difficulties posed by member states' legal structures. Mr McCreevy expressed the hope that EU citizens would be more likely to vote in favour of referendums on the future of the EU when they saw the benefits of liberalisation.

He also defended legal challenges he has taken against 10 EU states as part of a drive to open up the sports betting market. There were no proposals to liberalise gambling in Europe, he said, which remained within member states' competence. However, the European Court of Justice had decided gambling is a service and can be provided across borders.

"If a member state wants to ban gambling in its entirety because they agree it is an evil above all evils, that it is worse than drink, smoking, sex, football matches and overeating, there's no problem with us. But what you can't do is promote your own lottery and then prevent someone from another member state from providing that service," he said.

Earlier, Mr McCreevy blew out the candles on a giant birthday cake to mark the EU's 50th anniversary.