Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni and the Czech Presidency of the EU Council expressed concerns about the lack of progress made on the internal market in the services sector when they spoke to the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection on Thursday 27 October on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the single market.
During the first panel, several speakers spoke of their regret at the slow progress being made in deepening the single market, particularly in the area of services, which could actually be a vector for growth. Among them was Tomáš Prouza, the Czech State Secretary for European Affairs, who did not mince his words.
“I think in particular, the biggest imperfection is a large gap between the level of integration of the services market and the goods market”, he told parliamentarians. “Moreover, when I look at this gap, worried that the gap is actually growing, and the way to affirm in the past few years, we’ve seen important single market files being swept off the table”, he said, making a definite reference to the ‘services’ card that has been buried by Member States (see EUROPE 11986/16).
Similarly, during his speech, Commissioner Gentiloni said that deepening the internal market in the services sector was crucial to ensure the EU’s growth, but also to make a success of the green transition.
The German case and a SURE 2.0 instrument
In general, Commissioner Gentiloni warned against uncoordinated aid actions between Member States. “Not all countries have the same fiscal space to support the economy. So again, there is a question of maintaining the integrity of the single market and avoiding fragmentation”, he emphasised, without stating the case of German aid worth 200 billion euros.
In this respect, he indicated that the institution's services were working on a new European aid instrument. “We are working on it also taking inspiration from successful previous experience of common instruments based on loans”, he said, earlier citing the SURE instrument for mitigating the social consequences of the pandemic.
An “historic” Competitiveness Council
According to Prouza, the Competitiveness Council on 1st December will be “historic” because of its dense agenda. In particular, the EU Council is expected to adopt a general approach on the emblematic Chips Act dossier. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)