McCreevy: Other EU countries could repeat Irish boom

Any of the EU countries could mimic Ireland’s economic boom if businesses were allowed to exploit their full potential in an open market, it was claimed today.

European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said he believed the Internal Market had a key role to play in the EU’s economic and reform agenda.

“Ireland’s economic success in recent years is not only the result of pursuing the right economic policies; it is in no small part due to Ireland successfully exploiting the opportunities of a vast single market,” he told the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation lunch in Dublin.

“The same could happen to an EU of 25 Member States if we remove the obstacles that prevent businesses from exploiting their full potential in an open market.”

The former finance minister branded the Internal Market programme as probably the “greatest better regulation exercise that the world has seen.”

However, Gary McGann, IBEC’s president, warned that EU member states were being flooded with excessive regulation.

He urged against removing the veto on Corporation Tax that attracts many companies to Ireland.

“Ireland’s freedom to determine its own tax system has been at the heart of its economic success: in choosing to lower taxes on employment and enterprise, Ireland has achieved economic growth and employment creation that has made us the star of the European classroom,” he told the hundreds of IBEC delegates.

Mr McGann added: “We have a simple message to those in the EU who wish to ’harmonise’ our tax rates with their own. Forget it. Concentrate instead on bringing your own rates down as we have done in Ireland.”

Mr McCreevy, the former finance minister, stressed that member states needed to act together to improve the functioning of the internal market and ensure the free circulation of goods, capital, people and services.

“Open markets spur competition and innovation which is exactly what we need to foster growth and jobs,” he added.

Mr McGann said there was a tendency within the European Union for regulators not to be aware of the hard reality of the workplace, business and trade.

“The single greatest obstacle to the development of a vibrant European Union is the mindset that clings to the belief that the centre can somehow ‘fix’ everything,” he added.

Mr McGann said that no new directives or national legislation should be introduced without first being subject to a regulatory impact assessment to determine the benefits of the proposed legislation in the face of the costs.

Mr McCreevy told the delegates that the Commission was willing to simplify or alter rules governing the Internal Market which were impacting upon businesses.