Fewer national constraints and more common standards to boost the single market

Filippo Venieri is a manager at VF Venieri, in Lugo (Ravenna). The company employs 80 people, produces construction machinery, and exports to 50 countries around the world: "The first obstacle that comes to mind is road homologation for our vehicles. It varies from country to country. There is no European uniformity. Our interlocutor is convinced that his sales could increase by 50%, if the single market were really such.

In this context, the Commission intends to reduce the fragmentation of rules in the field of packaging and labelling; to promote the recognition of professional qualifications; to facilitate the adoption of common standards; to eliminate national restrictions in the field of services; to facilitate the posting of European workers to EU countries; and to abolish territorial constraints in the distribution and sale of consumer goods.

From Paris, the association of French small and medium-sized enterprises (CPME) emphasises the regulatory barriers and differences in commercial and corporate law, 'a regulatory complexity that no company manager - and even less a small and medium-sized enterprise - can overcome alone'. Among other things, Brussels intends to present rules for a 28th regime, free of national legal systems.

The completion of the single market has become increasingly important not only economically, but also politically. On the first front, the situation is self-evident. According to a 2023 survey by the European Commission itself, only 13% of small and medium-sized enterprises export goods to other EU countries. It is therefore a question of offering European companies a driving force that will enable them to grow, so as to boost consumption and investment at the same time.

Squeezing export dependency

There is an awareness that Europe cannot continue to depend on exports, at the risk of remaining hostage to the goodwill of third countries and their trade policies, as the American case shows. In this sense, the single market and domestic demand are also pieces of a new European sovereignty. Tobias Gehrke, an analyst at the European Centre on Foreign Relations, summarised at a recent conference in Paris: 'It is about creating an alternative to the American consumer.

As mentioned, those who suffer most from barriers in the single market are small companies. Pasta Cuomo produces 70 tonnes of pasta per year, and exports 80% of its production, of which 25% goes to Europe. Managing director Amelia Cuomo from Gragnano (Naples) explains: 'Tariffs within the Union have been eliminated, but national regulations persist, starting with taxation (...) We are better off exporting to the United States, where we now sell 35% of our exports.

From Predazzo (Trento), Riccardo Felicetti, administrator of the pasta factory of the same name, emphasises labels and the need to adapt them to individual European markets: 'We have dedicated packaging for 30% of our production. A single label would allow us to save hundreds of thousands of euro, 1% of our turnover, which at an annual level is around 60 million euro. Not to mention the storage costs we are forced to incur due to the many different labels'.

In a context of growing protectionism, 'investing in the relaunch of the single market is in some ways an answer to Donald Trump,' notes Stefan Moritz, the Brussels representative of the BVMW association of German SMEs. The single market itself can become an instrument of international pressure. Already today it accounts for 18% of the global economy. It counts 450 million people and 26 million companies. To strengthen it means to weigh more politically.

There is expectation in the business world for the action plan to be presented possibly as early as 21 May. Cautiously optimistic expectations, in light of the economic and political moment. The BVMW Moritz executive sums up: 'I don't think we should expect any changes in one fell swoop. Rather I expect a few steps forward, especially as there is a majority of pro-business countries in the Council, which bodes well'.