Barnier: EU Parliament 'changed dramatically' on EU gaming law
The EU Parliament has "changed dramatically" in its attitude to harmonised online gambling regulation, the new European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, has said...
The European Commission must “retain its role as guardian of the [European] Treaty and continue to investigate complaints of violations of European law”, the new European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, has said.
In an interview with eGaming Review‘s French media partner, iGaming France, Barnier said he wanted to encourage dialogue between stakeholders and that there seemed to be a willingness from European politicians to examine an EU-wide harmonised regulatory framework to deal with the cross-border nature of egaming.
When asked if there was any possibility the European authorities would consider such a harmonised regulatory system for online gambling, Barnier said the Member States and the European Parliament had rejected the idea during the negotiations on the Services Directive in 2004, but added:
“In recent discussions, I had confirmation that the opinion of [the European] Parliament on this issue has changed dramatically. Online gaming has grown, its cross-border activity is clear for all to see and parliamentarians are now asking the Commission to deal with the key issues raised by such a phenomenon.”
He added: “Many of my colleagues in the European Parliament expect the Commission to work on the questions and challenges raised by online gaming, rather than focusing on infringement procedures. Of course, the Commission must retain its role as guardian of the (European) Treaty and continue to investigate complaints of violations of European law.”
Barnier took up his post in Brussels in December and is said to be a political ally of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
He welcomed France’s regulation of its egaming sector, which the Frenchman said resulted from a constructive dialogue between the Commission and France to adapt to the market forces.
“For my part, I want to be able to better understand the issues: prevention of addiction, risk of corruption or money laundering, protection of under-age gamblers and identify responses by opening a dialogue about a cross-border phenomenon and all the issues it raises,” he said.
Barnier also called for a green paper to resume dialogue among Member States, operators, sports event organisers, academics, medical professionals and consumers to see how a harmonised regulatory framework could be devised and what issues it would raise.