“I wish we could transfer the feeling of urgency felt on industrial policy to the single market”, said Daniel Blockert, who chairs the High-Level Working Group on Competitiveness and Growth for the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council. On Thursday 22 June, he took part in a conference on the single market.
Work on the full application of European rules is necessary if the internal market is to function optimally, he believes. “We all know this, but it’s too slow”, he lamented.
According to Wim Martens, senior advisor to the Benelux Union, the members of his organisation also share this view: “There are resistant barriers which need to be tackled”. This applies, for example, to the movement of products and the provision of services, added Charlotte Andersdotter, Head of the EU Office at Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
Injecting money to support the establishment of industrial projects in the EU is not a bad idea, but would be “a drop in the ocean compared to having a fully functioning single market”, according to Daniel Blokert.
He is also concerned that funds are being withdrawn from research and development to support industrial projects. “Long-term R&D, stable, predictable resources is far more important than moving subsidies around”, he insisted. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)