The financial crisis has led to a controversial public debate about bonus payments to staff members of the financial industry. The EU-Commission is responding by submitting a Recommendation which has public appeal but is legally non-binding and which is to be regarded above all as a political signal. However, for the banking sector the Commission announced that it would be proposing in June 2009 amendments to the Directive on capital requirements for banks (“Basel II”), which should allow the inclusion of remuneration practices into capital requirements for financial service providers.

According to the Commission the potential of liberalisation of the electricity and gas markets should be further tapped. Competitive solutions are to increasingly enjoy priority over price regulation. Moreover, the Commission is making statements on the frequency of supplier switching.

In the end there seemed to be too much political pressure. Shortly before the EU-Elections the Commissioner for the Single Market McCreevy presented a proposal for the regulation of alternative investment funds (AIF), in particular of hedge funds and private equity funds.

The concept of a “European maritime transport space without barriers“ aims to eliminate or simplify administrative procedures in intra-EU maritime transport. Thus it is to be made “more attractive, more efficient and more competitive“ and more environmentally friendly.

According to the Commission climate change requires adaptation measures in key policy sectors such as health and social affairs, agriculture and infrastructure. In order to supplement the expenses of Member States and to share burdens, adaptation measures could be financed through EU spending programmes.

In response to the financial crisis the EU-Commission strengthens CEBS-, CESR- and CEIOPS-Committees and provides to them additional funding. The Committees are to enhance closer cooperation between national supervisory authorities and to strengthen the stability of the financial system.

The EU-Commission has fundamentally revised the EU Codex for Medicinal Products in its Pharmaceutical Package presented in December 2008. The focus lies on informations for patients, the protection against falsified medical products and the monitoring of authorised medical products (pharmacovigilance). For the latter, essential improvements are the obligation for an implementation of a risk-management-system for all newly authorised medical products and the option for authorities to impose requirements even after authorisation.

The European Commission wants to reduce the administrative burdens of micro-entities. It is therefore proposing an amending Directive, which would enable Member States to exempt micro-entities from the obligation to draw up annual accounts.

The consumer markets scoreboard serves to monitor the “performance“ of the internal market from the consumers’ perspective and to identify parts of it that “are not functioning well“. Moreover, consumer options for cross-border shopping within the EU are to be assessed and the general conditions for effective consumer protection in the single Member States be benchmarked.

The Proposal for a Directive is to recast the "WEEE Directive" 2002/96/EC, which regulates the waste management of electrical and electronic equipment. The adverse impact of this waste on the environment and human health is to be prevented and used more efficiently as a source of raw materials. Producers must meet an annual minimum rate in each Member State for overall recovery, as well as for the preparation for the re-use and recycling of WEEE. Registration and reporting obligations should now be harmonised and the national registers should be made inter-operable.