Single Market Act II reception

Yesterday we posted the entries Single Market Act blog posts, Single Market concerns and the Single Market Act II.

The year 2012 was the year of the 20th anniversary of the internal market (single market) and the birth of the SMA II:

Single Market Act II - Together for new growth; Brussels, 3.10.2012 COM(2012) 573 final (24 pages)

Today is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Rome Treaties, but we continue to follow the efforts to improve the internal market during the 2010s. Here we look at the SMA II reception by the European Council (EUCO) and the Competitiveness Council late 2012.

European Council October 2012  

Under the Compact for Growth and Jobs, the European Council conclusions 18-19 October 2012 EUCO 156/12 encouraged the adoption of Single Market Act I and Single Market Act II proposals, as well as actions to improve transport, energy and telecommunications networks, plus a “fully functioning” Digital Single Market:

2. The European Council remains determined to stimulate growth and jobs, in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Compact for Growth and Jobs, decided last June, constitutes the overall framework for action at national, euro and EU levels, mobilising all levers, instruments and policies. All the commitments it outlines must be fully and rapidly delivered. Significant progress has been achieved so far, as shown in the letter from the President of the European Council of 8 October 2012 as well as in the reports from the Presidency and the Commission. However, greater efforts are required in certain areas, as set out below.

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(b) Deepening the Single Market: progress has been made on the Single Market Act I, but more efforts are required to complete work on the outstanding proposals including on accounting, professional qualifications, public procurement and venture capital funds. The Commission's new communication on the Single Market Act II sets out 12 further key actions which should contribute much to sustainable European growth, employment and social cohesion. The European Council welcomes the Commission's intention to present all key SMA II proposals by spring 2013 and calls for their rapid examination in order to allow their adoption by the end of the current parliamentary cycle at the latest. It is also important to take urgent action in line with the Commission's communications on implementation of the Services Directive and on Single Market governance.

(c) Connecting Europe: the future Connecting Europe Facility will constitute an important instrument to promote growth through investment in transport, energy and ICT links. In the field of transport, eliminating regulatory barriers and tackling bottlenecks and missing cross-border links is essential in order to guarantee the efficient operation of the Single Market and promote competitiveness and growth. Digital technologies and infrastructures are also an essential prerequisite. Recalling the need to complete the internal energy market fully by 2014 in accordance with the agreed deadlines and to ensure that no Member State remains isolated from the European gas and electricity networks after 2015, the European Council calls for rapid agreement on the proposal on energy TENs and looks forward to the forthcoming Commission communication and Action Plan to address the prevailing challenges.

(d) Achieving a fully functioning Digital Single Market by 2015: this could generate an additional growth of 4% over the period up to 2020. The European Council therefore calls for work to be accelerated on the proposals on e-signature and collective rights management and looks forward to the forthcoming proposals on reducing the cost of the deployment of high speed broadband and on e-invoicing. The forthcoming midterm review of the Digital Agenda should be used to identify areas where more work needs to be done. It is necessary to modernise Europe's copyright regime to facilitate access to content while upholding intellectual property rights and encouraging creativity and cultural diversity.

Competitiveness Council December 2012

The Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space) 10-11 December 2012 conclusions 17410/12 recorded progress regarding SMA I proposals, such as the unitary patent, public procurement rules, resolution of consumer disputes, professional qualifications and accounting rules (pages 9-14), but also adopted conclusions on the SMA II (page 15):

Single Market Act II – Council conclusions

The Council adopted conclusions on the second set of new priority proposals presented by the Commission on 3 October 2012 under the "Single Market Act II".

These proposals will supplement the first set of measures of the Single Market Act I package for deepening and strengthening the single market in order to create economic growth and jobs.

Inter alia, the conclusions highlight the need for the single market to rest upon a strong economic and social basis and the importance for the SMA II actions to address the concerns of citizens and businesses.

The conclusions are set out in document 16617/12.

From the general conclusions to the specific conclusions in Council document 16617/12, prepared earlier by Coreper, but formally adopted by the ministers:

Draft Council conclusions on the Single Market Act II - Together for new Growth 16617/12 (about four pages of text between the cover note and the annex list)

The Competitiveness Council called on the Commission to table the SMA II proposals and encouraged the member states and the European Parliament to adopt them before the end of the parliamentary term etc., but here I want to highlight the viewpoints on the integration of single market progress into the economic governance cycle called the European Semester, plus the need to monitor SMA I and SMA II progress:

11. STRESSES the need for its stronger role on Single Market issues in the context of the European Semester process with regard to sustainable growth and competitiveness enhancing measures, including the governance of the Single Market and, where appropriate, the adoption and implementation of the key actions of the SMA I and SMA II. Moreover, WELCOMES the Commission's first Annual Report on the State of the Single Market Integration, including the identification of actions in priority areas; and LOOKS FORWARD to the timely discussion of every annual Report in the Competitiveness Council and its preparatory bodies in the framework of the European Semester process.

12. UNDERLINES the need to monitor closely the progress on the key proposals of the SMA I and SMA II and in this regard INVITES the Commission to present a semi-annual report for discussion in the High Level Group on Competitiveness and Growth and subsequently in the Council; where progress is insufficient, ENCOURAGES the Presidency to take all necessary steps to speed up the process.

European Council December 2012

The 13-14 December 2012 European Council conclusions EUCO 205/12 bundled together its comments on the SMA I and the SMA II. EUCO also commented on the efforts to streamline business regulation:

17. The completion of the Single Market can contribute much to growth and jobs and constitutes a key element of the EU's response to the financial, economic and social crisis. The European Council took stock of the state of play as regards the priority proposals of the Single Market Act I and welcomed the agreement reached among participating Member States on the Unitary Patent as well as the agreement on Alternative Dispute Resolution and Online Dispute Resolution for consumer disputes. It calls on the co-legislators to conclude the remaining SMA I files as a matter of urgency. In particular, work should be speeded up on professional qualifications, public procurement, posting of workers and e-signature and e-identification. As regards the Single Market Act II, the European Council calls on the Commission to present all key proposals by the spring of 2013. It invites the Council and the European Parliament to give these proposals the highest priority with a view to their adoption by the end of the current parliamentary cycle at the latest. It is also important to take urgent action in line with the Commission's communications on implementation of the Services Directive and on Single Market governance. The European Council will keep progress on all single market proposals under close review.

18. The European Council calls for the rapid examination of the Commission's communication on "Smart Regulation" and looks forward to the publication of the first SME scoreboard. The European Council welcomes the proposals by the Commission to reduce regulatory burdens and scrap regulations that are no longer of use as part of its overall approach to "Smart Regulation". It looks forward to concrete progress and a report back at its March 2013 meeting.

Ralf Grahn

General sources:

General Report on the Activities of the European Union - 2012 (free to download at the EU Bookshop in all the official EU languages)

General Report on the Activities of the European Union - 2013 (you can download the annual report freely in your chosen EU language at the EU Bookshop)

Regeringens skrivelse 2012/13:80 Berättelse om verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2012  

Regeringens skrivelse 2013/14:115 Verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2013

Single Market Act in Competitiveness Council

After the blog posts presenting the Single Market Act SMA and the promised main proposals listed in Twelve Single Market key actions, we return to the follow-up of the (first) Single Market Act (SMA), published by the European Commission in April 2011.  

Competitiveness Council

We take a quick look in the rear-view mirror on the Competitiveness Council 30 May 2011 and the European Council (EUCO) 23 to 24 June 2011 through the blog post European Council on growth and jobs, before heading back to the Council conclusions:

Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space); Brussels, 30 and 31 May 2011; document 10547/11

Here we are interested in the general conclusions on the Single Market Act (page 8):

Single Market Act - Council conclusions

The Council held a debate and adopted conclusions on the implementation of the "Single Market Act" (SMA), which is a two-year plan (2011-2012) of 50 initiatives aimed at ensuring continuous optimisation of the internal market and contributing to the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 objectives on stimulating employment and economic growth (13977/1/10).

In the light of the outcome of a public consultation, the Commission submitted on 13 April 2011 a communication identifying the 12 levers that can best contribute to tapping the single market's potential for growth and employment. Moreover, the communication sets out a timetable for the adoption of each lever (9283/11).

The 12 levers for growth and social progress include actions in the areas of workers' mobility, financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, consumer protection, the digital single market, energy taxation and trans-European networks.

Among other things, the conclusions invite the Commission to put forward all these key actions before the end of 2011 and calls on all actors to commit themselves to adopting a first set of priority measures to give a new impetus to the single market by 2012.

10993/11

Because the language of the two first paragraphs was a little vague, I want to clarify the exact references:

The first document number 13977/1/10 REV 1 (en) referred to the new English version of Commission consultation paper, the communication Towards a Single Market Act COM (2010) 608 final.

The second document mentioned 9283/11 referred to Single Market Act COM(2011) 206 final, the SMA proper, published 13 April 2011.

Specific SMA conclusions

The document 10993/11 referred to the specific and quite detailed Competition Council conclusions on the Priorities for Relaunching the Single Market adopted by the Council of 30 May 2011 (10 pages).

I am going to take just a few picks.

The Council stressed the need to further enhance the coherence and complementarities between the internal and international trade (policies) of the European Union (page 5).

The ministers underlined the key role the single market has to play in delivering growth and employment and promoting competitiveness. They made a clear reference to the union’s Article 3(3) TEU social market economy goal, when they mentioned that the Single Market must rest upon a strong economic and social basis with a view to building a highly competitive social market economy (page 5).

The conclusions went on to dedicate a paragraph to each of the SMA key actions, offering varying degrees of support: from enthusiastic to a promise to give due consideration to a coming proposal.

In the world of administration, even more so at a more complex international level, the machinery requires constant attention and perfecting (page 9):

17. UNDERLINES the importance of strengthening governance of the Single Market thus ensuring a level playing field for all in the Single Market through effective, efficient and uniform enforcement of Single Market rules; in this respect:

- INVITES the Commission to continue the work on the governance aspects of the Single Market;

- CALLS ON the Member States to fully implement Single Market rules including the Services Directive;

- UNDERLINES the importance of the SOLVIT and IMI systems;

- furthermore COMMITS ITSELF, and INVITES the European Parliament and the Commission to avoid creating unnecessary burdens in legislative proposals in general;

The Competitiveness Council, having urged the Commission to submit on a yearly basis a progress report on implementation, could not wait to get its hands on the proposals (page 9):

19. INVITES the Commission to put forward all key action proposals as soon as possible but before the end of 2011 and in line with the timing put forward in the Single Market Act so as to facilitate their full consideration within the deadlines proposed, whilst ensuring they take full account of the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity;

Finally, the Council started looking towards a second Single Market Act (SMA II) (page 10):

22. INVITES the Commission to take stock of the progress achieved, to conduct a comprehensive economic study to identify specific areas with untapped growth potential and to launch a new stage in the development of the Single Market by the end of 2012 with the aim of further deepening it.

So far, so good.

Ralf Grahn

General sources:

General Report on the Activities of the European Union 2011 (An open and fair internal market, legislative proposals listed on page 46, text on pages 45-)

Regeringens skrivelse 2011/12:105 Berättelse om verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2011 (Den inre marknadens utveckling etc., pages 166-178)

European Council on growth and jobs

The preceding blog posts, including the latest one 'European Council documentation: Ecofin integrated guidelines', left us wondering about the vanishing paper trail (accountability, transparency) and real scope of the endorsement from the European Council ”without any watering down”, as well as from the national leaders ”to do everything necessary”, with regard to Stability or Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes (NRPs).

Still, the impetus, political directions and guidelines from the European Council represent the top level signals for the development of the European Union, so we have cause to continue looking at what the summit had to say about economic policy:

European Council 23/24 June 2011: Conclusions (EUCO 23/11; 16 pages)


Economic growth

In paragraph 4 (page 3), the heads of state or government turned to economic growth and job creation, against backdrop of still sluggish and uneven progress:

4. National efforts must be supported by action at European Union level, particularly with the aim of unlocking Europe's full potential for economic growth and job creation. In this context, work should accelerate to deliver the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives and the Single Market Act, focusing on the priorities identified by the Council on 30 May 2011. In particular, the regulatory burden on SMEs needs to be further reduced and where appropriate micro-enterprises should be exempted from certain future regulations or at least be subject to a lighter regime. In this context, the European Council welcomes the commitment of the Commission to assess the impact of future regulations on micro enterprises and to screen the acquis to identify existing obligations from which micro enterprises could be excluded. It agreed to return to these issues at its December 2011 meeting. The Commission is also invited to prepare a roadmap on the completion of the digital Single Market by 2015. The Commission is invited to report in October 2011 on these growth-enhancing areas with a view to progress being achieved by the time of the Spring 2012 European Council.

The paragraph contains several interesting signals, which we need to unlock through brief references omitted by the leaders.


Europe 2020 strategy

The success of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (EU2020) depends mainly on reforms in the EU member states and on the willingness of the countries represented in the Council and the European Council to push for reforms at EU level.

Having pronounced on the public finances and growth-enhancing reforms in the member states, here the European Council addressed the Commission, which prepared and drives forward the seven flagship initiatives dedicated to EU level action: the Digital agenda for Europe, the Innovation Union, Youth on the Move, Resource efficient Europe, the industrial policy for the globalisation era, the agenda for new skills and jobs, and the European platform against poverty.


Single Market Act

Officially, the European Union has an internal market, but the benefits of a real single market beckon. The Single Market Act (SMA) is a step in this direction, entailing proposals promised in twelve areas, in order to support growth and job creation.

The Commission hopes to see the proposals adopte by the end of 2012.

A more detailed view of the intended actions is found in the communication from the Commission:

Single Market Act: Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence "Working together to create new growth”; Brussels, 13.4.2011 COM(2011) 206 final


Council priorities

In an off-hand manner, but still, the European Council offered a clue by mentioning the priorities identified by the Council on 30 May 2011. This must mean the Competitiveness Council, although it is less clear if the summit endorsement targeted only the Single Market Act, or everything connected to the EU2020 flagship initiatives as well:

3094th Council meeting Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space); Brussels, 30 and 31 May 2011 (10547/11; 22 pages)

Here, let us focus on the Single Market Act, leaving the rest of the issues to readers interested enough to study the conclusions more fully.

We find the following text (with links in the original):

Single Market Act - Council conclusions

The Council held a debate and adopted conclusions on the implementation of the "Single Market Act" (SMA), which is a two-year plan (2011-2012) of 50 initiatives aimed at ensuring continuous optimisation of the internal market and contributing to the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 objectives on stimulating employment and economic growth (13977/1/10).

In the light of the outcome of a public consultation, the Commission submitted on 13 April 2011 a communication identifying the 12 levers that can best contribute to tapping the single market's potential for growth and employment. Moreover, the communication sets out a timetable for the adoption of each lever (9283/11).

The 12 levers for growth and social progress include actions in the areas of workers' mobility, financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, consumer protection, the digital single market, energy taxation and trans-European networks.

Among other things, the conclusions invite the Commission to put forward all these key actions before the end of 2011 and calls on all actors to commit themselves to adopting a first set of priority measures to give a new impetus to the single market by 2012.

10993/11

The links lead to the corrected version of the original communication (13977/1/10), the April communication (9283/11), and the Council priorities (10993/11):

Council Conclusions on the Priorities for Relaunching the Single Market (31 May 2011, 10993/11; 10 pages)

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This is about enough for the first blog post about the first two sentences of the fourth paragraph.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Guardian praises Sir Nicolas Bratza, the new president of the European Court of Human Rights, which ensures the observance of the European Convention of Human Rights (concluded within the Council of Europe).