New Commissioner Causing Issue
Sadly this may be one of the last articles where we have the opportunity to talk
about all that former European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy did to further the
EU online casino gambling industry. McCreevy made a name for himself over the
past several years because of his strong commitment to creating an open and EU
market that upheld the tenants of free trading of goods and services between EU
member-states. McCreevy led the Commission in aggressive and strong action
against those EU member-states operating closed and protected online casino
gambling monopolies. McCreevy’s time has ended, however, and Michel Barnier, the
former French agriculture minister, has been appointed to the position of
European Commissioner.
Funnily enough, the new changes made within the Commission really haven’t sat
well with some of the EU member-states…and it has nothing to do with the online
casinos! The issue comes from the fact that there were only oh-so-many spots
available and there were a lot of countries hoping to fill the spots with a
representative from their country. French president Nicolas Sarkozy made matters
quite a bit worse with his altogether un-PC comment noting that the UK was the
underdog in the latest appointments. For the online casino gambling industry
though, there is no telling how Barnier’s appointment will affect the fight for
a free and open EU market.
Ostensibly, Barnier will also agree that the EU trade principles dictate strong
action against the EU states operating an online casino gambling monopoly. In
practice though, this could be entirely different because France is one of the
countries that has only just begun to adhere to the Commission’s demands for an
open market – in fact, the market isn’t even open yet. |