Tag: single market

Economic protectionism stoked by fears of social dumping is preventing EU countries from taking full advantage of the EU services directive, says MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt. Ahead of her 15 March report, she tells EurActiv how the rules, which chop down barriers to the sale of services across borders, curb discrimination and could result in a 2.6% rise in European GDP.

It remains to be seen whether David Cameron's speech has answered questions about the long-term British strategy for the European Union, writes Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.

Sweden's decision to discriminate between consumers in the same country in order to avoid discriminating between consumers in two different EU member states raises several concerns about the single market, argue Joakim Nergelius and Gustav Lorentz.

This week offers us an opportunity to look back at the significant achievements that have been made in opening up Europe's markets. There is no doubt that it has provided new opportunities to businesses and consumers, who can take advantage of a market place that boasts over 500 million consumers, writes Malcolm Harbour.

The European Commission yesterday (3 October) presented a new recipe to improve the functioning of the internal market with a focus on job-creation and growth in its Single Market Act II plan.

The European Commission has withdrawn proposed legislation limiting workers’ right to strike, amid a furore from trade unions and EU lawmakers in Parliament who waived a "yellow card" to Brussels for stepping over national sovereignty.

The European Parliament has moved a step closer towards establishing a single, liberalised European rail network after a round of voting on the proposed competition rules.

Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship, came under fire from journalists yesterday (4 April) as he presented a proposal aimed at reducing administrative formalities for registering a vehicle in a different EU member state.

Members of the European Parliament pledge to stick to the lower range of their proposed price caps for roaming charges. A recent report by national regulators found that providers’ costs for these services are likely to remain below the higher caps originally suggested by the Commission and backed by many member states.

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier yesterday (8 February) proposed creating a European foundation statute to allow public interest organisations to use the same legal framework across the EU.

Special commercial embassies in Brazil and other fast-growing economies, easier terms for banking credit, and new investment funds designed to assist innovative businesses are likely to be touted in a European Commission action plan due later this year.

Attempts to give a more social dimension to the EU's Single Market will result in legislative deadlock similar to the Maternity Rights Directive, the European Commission was warned last week.

Proposals to introduce standardisation systems across Europe – covering services that could range from tattooists to tourism – have met with hostility from business and caution from consumer groups.

Traders such as tour guides and plumbers should be able to ply their wares across member states by flashing professional ID cards under proposals designed to re-launch the Single Market Act this week.

The European Commission is considering to extend to new policy areas such as gambling and e-commerce its Single Market 'Facebook', as it has been dubbed by Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier.

Freezing the European Union's budget as demanded by some countries would be "very dangerous" as the EU needs greater investments to overcome the economic crisis, said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

The European Commission's proposal for a 'Single Market Act' must be debated across the EU so that citizens can learn about the internal market and get a taste for cross-border trade, Philippe Herzog, co-founder of the think-tank Confrontations Europe, told EurActiv France in an interview.

Fast-growing small firms will gain access to fresh sources of money by 2012 via a network of specialist stock exchanges under new European Commission proposals due next month.

The European Commission is studying ways to abolish contractual hurdles which prevent companies from doing business across borders, according to a paper seen by EurActiv. The most far-reaching option on the table includes ambitious plans to introduce a "full-fledged European Civil Code".

The EU's long-term economic targets for 2020 are "good and necessary," but more fundamental changes are needed to remove the "ton" of barriers that continue to hamper the completion of the single market, Nani Beccalli, president and CEO of GE International, told EurActiv in an interview.

"A Digital Single Market's economic impact would at least equal that created by the EU Internal Market for goods," writes the European Policy Centre (EPC) in an April paper.

Amid growing unemployment and increasing inequality in Europe, the new social provisions in the Lisbon Treaty will not immediately correct social imbalances, according to experts. But the crisis might trigger the right kind of social innovation and reform the market economy, they say.

"The financial crisis is transforming some longstanding British assumptions" about the EU, according to Philip Whyte, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.