The Single Market is one of the EU’s most valuable assets and supporting policies that strengthen the free movement of goods, services, labour and capital is vital to its overall health.
Although the Single Market for goods is well developed, with intra-EU trade in goods doubling since 1993, its integration has stagnated since 2006. To unlock further potential, the EU needs to focus on removing remaining barriers, enforcing existing rules and creating a regulatory environment that drives growth. This can be enacted through a commitment to effective governance, greater harmonisation and driving innovation.
The European Commission’s role as guardian of the Single Market should be bolstered to ensure proper implementation, enforcement and compliance with existing rules to allow for a level playing field and uniform approach. The Commission should more actively use infringement procedures for breaches of Single Market law by Member States and assertively exercise its role as guardian of the treaties. The Single Market governance infrastructure should be reinforced to counter recent trends towards renationalisation, protectionism and fragmentation.
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