Blog by Sasha Brose, Political Consultant for Employment, Social Affairs and the Single Market
On May 21, the European Commission presented the new Single Market Strategy. The Communication “The Single Market: our European home market in an uncertain world” aims to reduce the ten biggest existing Single Market barriers, including the lengthy recognition of professional qualifications, the slow development of EU-wide standards and norms, restrictions on cross-border work as well as overly complex national and EU regulations.
The text responds to key policy issues breaking them down into topic-based questions:
Where does it come from?
This new Strategy responds directly to a request from the European Council, which in April 2024 called on the Commission to develop a horizontal single market strategy by June 2025, with a special focus on addressing challenges affecting the competitiveness of businesses of all sizes, while paying particular attention to SMEs and start-ups. These requests echoed similar conclusions of reports by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi in 2024. The European Parliament adopted a resolution outlining its demands for the new strategy on 8 May 2025.
Why does it matter?
The EU’s strongest asset, the Single Market, is the second largest economy in the world, accounting for almost 18% of the global economy; it brings together 27+3 European countries, more than 450 million consumers and about 26 million companies. The Single Market creates prosperity and is the driver of competitiveness. It is the EU’s anchor for stability and resilience in a period of economic uncertainty caused by geopolitical challenges and trade tensions. To continue benefitting from the biggest achievement of European integration, the EU must reinvigorate its vision of a simple, fair and seamless Single Market.
What needs to be done?
The comprehensive Strategy lays out the following priorities to make it easier for businesses to operate and invest across the Single Market:
The first priority is to bring down the ten most harmful Single Market barriers that negatively impact trade and investment. Secondly, the services market needs enhanced dynamism because of its pivotal role. Thirdly, freeing up SMEs and small mid-caps (SMCs) from regulatory and administrative market fragmentation. Fourthly, taking immediate action to cut red tape and to foster simplification for all businesses (reference to SMCs Omnibus and the 28th regime). Fifthly, a general digitalisation of the Single Market to speed up doing business in the EU. Sixthly, a more effective implementation and enforcement of the existing market policies and rules through the Member States. Seventhly, there should be greater national ownership and a serious commitment from all government levels, which would increase political and economic engagement from all actors (avoiding national gold plating). Eighthly, the EU spending on investment must be synchronised with national regulatory reforms to advance Single Market policy objectives. Ninthly, due to the size of the Single Market, its shock-absorption capacities, and its high social, environmental, and consumer standards; it must act as a shield from unfair trade practices from outside.
What are the ‘Terrible Ten’ Single Market barriers?
As part of the first priority, the European Commission has identified the following list based on comprehensive consultations with stakeholders:
- Complicated business establishment and operations
- Overly complex EU rules
- Lack of Single Market ownership by Member States
- Recognition of professional qualifications
- Long delays in standard-setting that weigh on innovation and competitiveness
- Fragmented rules on packaging, labelling and waste
- Outdated harmonised product rules and lack of product compliance
- Restrictive and diverging national services regulation
- Burdensome procedures for the temporary posting of workers (A1 form)
- Territorial supply constraints
What does the Council say?
At the COMPET Council on May 22, the Member States welcomed the Strategy. Many delegations showed their willingness to cooperate in the implementation of the strategy. Ministers underlined their different priorities in the strategy, including support for SMEs, reduction of administrative burden, increase of the interconnections of energy, transport and data, digitalisation of procedures, and the reduction of territorial supply constraints.
What does the Parliament say?
The IMCO chair Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, DE) welcomed the Commission’s ambition to strengthen the Single Market in times of economic uncertainty. She was critical of the national patchwork of varying implementation and enforcement of the market policies and rules, and therefore supported the proposed measures. She particularly liked the idea of creating an EU market surveillance authority to confront the exponentially growing e-commerce sector, to protect domestic consumers and producers from low-quality and dangerous imports.
A recent public hearing in the IMCO Committee highlighted the need for a simplified, fair and fully integrated Single Market, particularly for SMEs and consumers. Panellists and MEPs emphasised addressing the most harmful regulatory barriers, strengthening enforcement, tackling unfair trading practices, and ensuring coherent implementation across Member States. Digitalisation, cross-border service provision, and stronger product surveillance—especially in e-commerce—emerged as priorities, with many MEPs calling for bolder action and more consistent application of EU rules.
Who is critical of the new strategy?
The S&D Group in the Parliament regretted that, despite some important initiatives being included, such as the recognition of professional qualifications, the digitalisation of procedures to reduce paperwork or the social and environmental dimension of public procurement, the overall strategy seems to place profit and big companies before consumers’ and workers’ rights, reducing existing protections for people.
The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union warns that introducing broad ‘European preference’ criteria into public procurement risks undermining the openness that has made Europe competitive and attractive to global partners. A shift towards protectionist procurement policies would discourage continued investment of this kind and undermine choice, competition and innovation for European contracting authorities.
The Corporate Europe Observatory expressed criticism that the Single Market Strategy would boost corporate power and limit the democratic space that national and local authorities need to protect people and the environment. These plans are launched in a context of an unprecedented deregulation wave, under the banner of pursuing ‘competitiveness’. The Communication includes a particularly worrying proposal for a so-called ‘28th Regime’, which would enable a range of companies to opt out of national labour law and instead operate under lower EU-wide standards.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warns of deregulation and undermining workers’ rights through the introduction of the 28th company regime, which allows some companies opt outs from national labour law. ETUC called on the Commission to end this foul play and return to the original goal enshrined in the Treaties for the single market to be at the service of social progress. Specifically, they demand new rules on public procurement and social conditionalities ensuring that public money goes to companies with quality jobs underpinned by collective agreements.
What do the other stakeholders say?
In its priorities for the Single Market beyond 2024, BusinessEurope reiterated its call to remove all regulatory barriers to cross-border business operations and intra-EU investments and prevent new barriers from emerging, forming a fully-fledged Single Market for all economic activities and ensuring that any additional regulation comes with the guarantee to trade and invest freely across the EU without any exceptions.
Ecommerce stated that existing barriers and opportunities lie across a wide range of policy areas and legislation, and therefore welcomes the Commission’s ambition to put forward a comprehensive strategy to deepen the integration of the Single Market. Ecommerce supports the EU’s efforts to simplify complex business rules and address challenges across different sectors, ranging from the fragmented packaging and waste framework to the simplification of reporting requirements, e-invoices and digital labelling.
The European Packaging Association highlighted that fragmented rules on packaging and labelling appear on the Commission’s 10 barriers list, acknowledging the challenge of striking a balance between providing clear consumer information and minimising barriers for businesses.
APPLiA firmly supported the strategy’s emphasis on improved alignment between national and EU regulations and the planned Single Market Barriers Prevention Act. Divergent implementation creates unnecessary complexity, legal uncertainty, and increased costs, hindering the free movement of goods and slowing the transition to a circular economy.
Lightning Europe agreed that the Strategy rightly points to the issue of non-compliant products flooding the EU market, especially through online sales channels. In its most recent online mystery shopper exercise, all products tested in an accredited laboratory against relevant safety standards failed to comply with EU rules. Lightning Europe called for an ambitious revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation that will recognise online marketplaces as economic operators.
EuroCommerce wholeheartedly supported the Commission’s announced actions on improving the Single Market for waste, improving coordination of market surveillances authorities’ actions, pushing to harmonise digital labelling rules and advance the rollout of the Digital Product Passport, as well as introducing a Single Market barriers prevention act and proportionality guidance on national retail regulations. However, retailers and wholesalers regret the missed opportunity to clearly promise legislation to eliminate Territorial Supply Constraints.
What do we make of it?
The long-awaited Single Market Strategy is part of a series of European Commission initiatives (Competitiveness Compass, EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, IV Omnibus for Small Mid-Caps) that aim to strengthen and advance one of the EU’s greatest achievements, the Single Market for consumers, producers and businesses. In a volatile global economy, the EU needs to focus on its strengths and core features to remain a credible actor and partner: the Single Market is not everything, but without the Single Market, the EU is nothing.