Brussels, 23/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Single market deepening will be one of the appetisers at the next summit on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 June, where heads of state and government will be reaching agreements on a variety of different points in an effort to make progress with the single digital market.
European leaders therefore want to make progress in the area of cross-border portability services, in an effort to enable citizens that have paid for service in a member state to benefit from it in another. Ministers reached an agreement on this dossier during the most recent Competitiveness Council last May (see EUROPE 11557).
Similarly, member states are also hoping to push forward on the eradication of barriers to e-commerce, particularly unfair geo-blocking practices that deprive European citizens of certain products and services provided in other member states (see EUROPE 11558). Modernisation of the VAT system and reducing parcel delivery costs are also mentioned, as part of the action to be undertaken.
The abolition of roaming costs (see EUROPE 11573), implementation of the action plan on online administration (see EUROPE 11535) and reform of copyright and the audiovisual legislative framework (see EUROPE 11558) are also at the top of the list of the main areas in which to take action.
With a view to promoting the expansion of new economic activities, European leaders are hoping to provide the Union with a broadband cordless high-capacity network and support the revision of the Telecom regulatory framework, as well as improvements in the coordination of spectrum frequency. Last May, the Telecommunications Council reached a political agreement of principle on ultra high frequencies (see EUROPE 11557). In this context, the leaders have high expectations with regard to the important project of common European interest for improving coordination of the efforts made in the high-performance computing field.
Support for the services passport project (see EUROPE 11545), financing facilitation for businesses in the Capitals Markets Union (see EUROPE 11399) and continued efforts to improve European regulation are the three last points mentioned.
Finally, the Council will make a commitment to producing an annual report to the European Council during the June session on single market deepening, according to the provisional conclusions. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)