The Commission Defends the European Consumer

The heightened emphasis on consumer interests reflects the deliberate aim of increasing EU citizen (as consumer) interest in and support for the single market. The Commission’s turn to the consumer can be seen as an effort to legitimise market integration in the face of powerful forces, both governments and economic interests, that have hindered progress and succeeded in watering down recent pieces of single market legislation, including the Services Directive adopted in 2006 (see Howarth, 2007). This article outlines some of the main developments in the single market and competition policy areas and draws out the consumerist focus in Commission policy documents, decisions and discourse on these developments.