Single market, really?
Today, Renew Europe hosted a seminar exposing the Single Market’s daily struggles. Representatives from Vinted and Bolt revealed the hurdles: from fragmented licensing rules, to patchy payment systems or outright protectionism practices.
Svenja Hahn (Germany/FDP) cut to the chase: “We need to stop complaining about US or Chinese power plays and instead fix Europe’s self-inflicted wounds: our internal trade barriers and the broken promises of the single market”
Svenja HahnRenew Europe MEP, Germany, Freie Demokratische Partei
Sandro Gozi (France/Modem) called out “goldplating”, or the nasty tendency from national administration to pile extra rules on top of EU law. “It’s a lose-lose. Businesses drown in red tape. Europe gets blamed for overregulation, when the real culprits are overzealous national bureaucracies. The rule should be simple: one EU rule in, 27 national rules out.”
Sandro GoziRenew Europe MEP, France, Mouvement Démocrate
Antonios Nestoras from the European Policy for Innovation Council (EPIC) dropped a hard truth: we know how to measure the Single Market’s current value but not its full potential. Without that number, national governments have zero incentive to act. His solution? Look to the past: the Cecchini report proved the Single European Act’s impact and helped its adoption. Read his findings here. He also shared the latest Draghi report implementation stats (here). Spoiler: it’s bleak.