In this interview, Richard Wainwright reflects upon his arrival at the European Commission in 1973 shortly after the British accession to the EC and upon his career and the nature of his work in respectively the Commission’s Legal Service and the cabinet of Commissioner Clinton Davis. Consequently, the following themes are addressed:
- his experience with Commissioners Clinton Davies and Cockfield;
- his relations with the UK;
- the Legal Service: working atmosphere, directors-general, nature of its work and relations with the DG’s and the Council Legal Service;
- the renovation of the Berlaymont;
- consumer protection policy in the Clinton Davies office;
- environment policy;
- court cases on internal market policy, particularly Keck and Mithouard;
- the elaboration of the 1992 programme;
- the elaboration of a system of public procurement;
- the application of rules regarding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs);
- the development of a system of central authorisation of new medicines by the European Medicines Agency;
- the development of the subsidiarity principle;
- the role of the Legal Service in state aid matters;
- the increase in size and workload of the Legal Service and its digitalisation.