Changes afoot at Internal Markets Directorate

BRUSSELS – The Internal Markets Directorate – the division of the European Commission that produces most of the EU legislation for the financial services industry – is trying to change the way it performs consultations and also the way it enacts policy, according to speakers at a public hearing in late November in Brussels.

The moves – which are already having a broad impact on the way financial services policy is created and meted out – come after a report in October, Opinions and Experiences of Citizens in the EU-25. The general consensus is that Brussels is poor at consulting with stakeholders before developing policies, and that it is producing too much legislation when other tools may be more effective and less costly.

The tone of the public hearing was set by Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who