On the back of what Michel Barnier, Former Agricultural and Fisheries Minister of France, Former Commissioner for Regional Policy and Former MEP has called the largest financial crisis since 1929, he vigorously pronounced the Commission Portfolio for the Internal Market and Services ready to act, ready to put the service back into financial service and ready for much needed "intelligent reform".
Noting that equity and justice would play a large part in regulating the internal market in all of its facets, Barnier also promised to look at some of the weaknesses in the market, whilst stating that there is no fatigue, what there is, is a new momentum for the next 5 years having already been confronted by the crisis. Piracy was raised as a core issue, as the number of jobs destroyed by piracy have reached millions and have been growing exponentially. The role of Internet piracy was mentioned as an area that has been indulged but one where the creator's rights also had to be protected.
The services directive does not necessarily force privatization of national industries as it is not up to the EU to force the privatization of a public service but what is necessary is necessary transparency and standards in competition, "we in Brussels are not going to take responsibility for what private business is doing," Barnier stressed.
Public private partnerships
He talked about future potential of expanding public procurement in civil contacts and also the controversial topic of public procurement in the defense sector. "We won't have a European army as such" the Commissioner Designate said but taking into consideration the procurement of arms should be considered as there was no reason why Europe should be a sub contractor to American or Chinese influence, "we can be a player and I want to build up our role in the defense market"
MEP Rochefort from the ALDE group brought forth the hot topic of patents as Barnier stressed the importance of reaching an agreement on the European patent as well as ironing out linguistic and translation issues known as the sticking point in this field, as well as the highly contentious issue of jurisdiction in patents, suggesting a potential court could be set up to deal with this not solely European issue - the Swiss are also widely affected. MEP Handzlick brought out a reaction on the importance of SMEs which Barnier seconded revisiting means of assistance to SMEs such as access to funds and public procurement and one stop shops assisting the set up of businesses and admin.
New regulations will be imposed on banks, hedge funds, derivatives and central counterparties leaving.
International coordination, upholding the London and Pittsburgh Summits and reducing the possibilities of future probable crises were all necessary Monsieur Barnier said.
"When I'm the commissioner perhaps we can do more in terms of substance" In terms of ratings agencies and the IMF he said "or further with an ambitious agenda " as well as further reforms in financial services.
Questions of coordination between De Gucht, Almunia and Barnier were raised and answered swiftly and simply, by the Larossiere plan and with cooperation and strong coherence.
What becomes of services no longer under government auspices?
MEP Choutis of Greece led Barnier into a scenario faced in his country that impacted on 180,000 workers that of the privatization of the telecoms sector via Deutsche telecom in Greece in 2004 where the directive wasn't in place and minority shareholders had their rights flouted - would the same be true in the future? Barnier upheld the importance of subsidiarity and was happy to look into it if he became Commissioner if only to come back to him with the necessary information and look into proper implementation but who for the time being felt it inappropriate to speculate on such a case out of respect to the MEP.
The City of London
A highlight was certainly the exchange with MEP Bloom from London in the UK who began by stating emphatically that he was in the Committee representing the City of London and spoke on behalf of the financial services when he said that this new Commission seemed to have a lax grip on the subject and seemed to be just driving commodities back to Chicago and Zurich instead of keeping it in Europe.
40 % of the UKs GDP comes out of London and commodities in that City were held as having a great importance MEP Bloom underlined.
Barnier was prepared, from quotes by the "father of neo liberalism" to a dapper view he agreed that millions of jobs linked to that sector in the economy millions of people who work and earn a living for their families touching many other countries of the EU made this a big sector of the EU economy.
But, that no matter what London thought, the derivatives market of 600 billion Euro is vast, and has to exist with control and regulation, it has not until now.
International Instruments
The G20 is the roadmap leading to the best practice, regulation and market value that aligns with the EU, also looks at future crisis prevention and regulated sectors needing it. Getting in touch with International partners, Washington, China and the Member States, to which the Commissioner Designate promised to pay visits to every week, are key to creating a cooperative future on this issue.
Engaging the European Parliament further into the Basel and G20 process was debated via a question of MEP Karas to which a pledge for further inclusion was made and further redress on an already drafted directive where Barnier stated he could not retract already commenced efforts but he could make sure that they were properly implemented. Quotes "I was Very much affected by the French Referendum, I was deeply marked and scarred for many reasons of that failure which I translated into a deep malaise shared by many people outside France, proof that Europe had moved away from its citizens and yet the European project had at its heart the economic market" "I propose a European Monitoring Centre for counterfeiting" "When a business has to apply for a patent in 13 countries that costs 10 times as much" "I am not going to be taking orders from London, Paris or anywhere else" "My roadmap is simple, it's the G20 roadmap"
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On the back of what 
"I was Very much affected by the French Referendum, I was deeply marked and scarred for many reasons of that failure which I translated into a deep malaise shared by many people outside France, proof that Europe had moved away from its citizens and yet the European project had at its heart the economic market" 
