European Commission presents a fresh assessment of the situation in the Single Market and calls on Member States to renew their political commitment to the Single Market.
Over the last 25 years, the Single Market has made Europe one of the most attractive places to live and to do business. Its four indivisible freedoms – the free movement of people, goods, services and capital – have helped improve our citizens’ prosperity and strengthen the EU’s competitiveness. To exploit its full potential in the digital era and ensure sustainable growth of our economy, the Single Market needs to function properly and constantly evolve in a rapidly changing world. However, today, deeper integration requires more political courage and commitment than 25 years ago and greater efforts to close the gap between rhetoric and delivery.
Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “Six months before the European elections, it is worth reminding Europeans about how the Single Market improves our daily lives and provides a unique springboard for our companies to innovate and expand their activities across borders. And to those tempted to draw up new barriers, let’s consider the bigger picture: in a world where multilateralism is being challenged, and where Europe’s competitors are growing faster both in terms of GDP and population, the Single Market is a unique asset to preserve and boost our continent’s standing, values and influence in the world.”
Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, added: “The Single Market means freedom, opportunity and prosperity. But for people, services, products and capital to circulate freely – physically or online – we need everybody in the EU to play by the commonly agreed rules. We need effective and consistent enforcement. And just as we are resisting protectionism outside the EU, we should resist fragmentation inside the EU. We need to continuously uphold our Single Market to preserve our best asset for future generations.”
The Commission highlights three main areas where further efforts are needed to deepen and strengthen the Single Market:
Swiftly adopt proposals on table: The Commission has presented 67 proposals directly relevant for the proper functioning of the Single Market, 44 of which remain to be agreed. The Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to adopt the key proposals on the table before the end of this legislature. This includes relevant proposals to integrate digitisation and new technologies at the core of the Single Market, to ensure more secure and sustainable energy in Europe, and to build the Capital Markets Union (see factsheet Overview of initiatives)
Ensure the rules deliver in practice: Citizens and businesses can only enjoy the many benefits of the Single Market (see factsheet on the Single Market) if the rules that have been jointly agreed actually work on the ground. The Commission calls on Member States to be vigilant in implementing, applying and enforcing EU rules and refrain from erecting new barriers. For its part, the Commission will continue to ensure respect of EU rules across the board, from car emissions to e-commerce, from social media to the services sector, and much more besides.
Continue adapting the Single Market: Faced with growth gradually slowing down at global level and a changing geopolitical context, the EU needs to show leadership and political courage to take the Single Market to a new level. There is significant potential for further economic integration in the areas of services, products, taxation and network industries. It will make the Union even more attractive to international trading partners and provide it with additional leverage on the international stage.
With this Communication, the Commission is providing a first response to an invitation by the European Council in March to present a state of play of the Single Market and an assessment of remaining barriers and opportunities for a fully functioning Single Market. It also invites the European Council to dedicate an in-depth discussion at Leaders’ level to the Single Market in all its dimensions to identify common priorities for action and appropriate mechanisms to match the much needed new political commitment to the Single Market with concrete delivery at all levels of governance.
The Commission is today also presenting an Action Plan on standardisation, which presents four key actions to increase the system’s efficiency, transparency and legal certainty.
Removing bottlenecks to stimulate investment in the Single Market is also one of the key objectives of the Commission’s Investment Plan, also known as the Juncker Plan. This is why today’s Communication on the Single Market goes hand in hand with the Communication taking stock of what has been achieved under the Juncker Plan also published today.
Background
The Single Market allows Europeans to travel freely, study, work, live and fall in love across borders. They have a great choice of products – whether buying at home or cross-border – -and benefit from better prices as well as high standards of environmental, social and consumer protection. European businesses – small and large– can expand their customer base and exchange products and services more easily across the EU. Simply put, the Single Market is Europe’s best asset to generate growth and foster competitiveness of European companies in globalised markets.
With the Single Market Strategy, the Capital Markets Union and the Digital Single Market Strategy, the Commission has put forward an ambitious and balanced set of measures over the last four years to deepen the Single Market further and make it fairer. Several proposals have already been adopted, but the European Parliament and the Council still have to agree on 44 out of the 67 proposals set out in these strategies. The Commission has also made important and forward-looking proposals to build a Banking Union in Europe as well as strengthen the circular economy, energy, transport and climate policies which will deepen the Single Market and foster sustainable development. To ensure that the Single Market remains fair, the Commission has proposed safeguards in the fields of employment, taxation, company law and consumer protection.
For the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027, the Commission has proposed a new, dedicated €4 billion Single Market programme, to empower and protect consumers and enable Europe’s many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take full advantage of a well-functioning Single Market.