Brexit negotiations after Florence speech

Friday 22 September 2017, the think tank CEPS started a new series of Future of Europe meetings with a talk by Martin Selmayr, the head of president Juncker’s Cabinet. The evening before, the president of the European Council (EUCO) Donald Tusk had invited the heads of state or government to discuss how to organise their work regarding the substance, method and objectives of EU reform and the future of Europe, when the EU27 leaders dine ahead of the Tallinn Digital Summit.  

However, despite the daily chores, plus the EU reform and future of Europe agenda, the EU27 face the prolonged UK withdrawal process since the EU referendum 23 June 2016.

Florence speech  

People dependent on English media saw little else concerning the European Union than the Florence speech, where the UK prime minister Theresa May asked for a two-year extension of parts of membership after 29 March 2019 - thus ending before the next general election 5 May 2022 - and a “creative” new EU partnership excluding membership of the customs union, the single market and the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as skirting the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada as a model. - To pay one’s dues (also during an extension) is hardly a new opening, but an obvious obligation.

Orderly withdrawal?

The day before the Florence speech, the EU27 chief negotiator Michel Barnier had spoken  about an orderly withdrawal and the expectation of clear commitments from the United Kingdom on the initial issues - EU citizens, financial settlement and Ireland - before moving on to a possible transition period as part of a potential  withdrawal agreement SPEECH/17/3404.  

Soon after May’s speech, which offered little clarity on the requested issues, Barnier published a statement repeating the demands ahead of the fourth round of Brexit negotiations STATEMENT/17/3427.

Monday 25 September, after the other agenda items, the General Affairs Council (EU27) has an opportunity to take stock of the Article 50 TEU Brexit negotiations and the implications for the European Council meeting 19-20 October 2017.

Come Tuesday, EUCO president Tusk is going to meet prime minister May in London.

Florence speech reactions

Any deal requires agreement by the EU27 member states and the European Parliament. Instead of the UK-centric debate, it may be more important to sample reactions to the Florence speech from the point of view of the 450 million people set to remain in the single market (EEA) after Brexit, all too easily forgotten by British media and politicians.

Many in the EU are disappointed. May seems to have spoken primarily to her own people and party, Welt N24 assessed, also reporting that Moody’s had downgraded the UK’s credit rating.

The German press reactions Focus has compiled are hardly impressed.

Europeans greeted May’s conciliatory tone, but were left hungry, is the summary of RFI.

The haziness persists. The silences are going to be studied more closely in the chancelleries than the promises, Le Point concludes.

All talk and no action, commented Roberto Castaldi in Il Tirreno.  

Among Brussels based media, Politico Europe summed up the EU verdict as good, but not nearly enough.

The quick analysis from Fabian Zuleeg (EPC) about the insufficiency of May’s Florence speech is worth reading.

Ralf Grahn

EU Towards a Single Market Act

After looking at Your Single Market? and other introductory material, we turn to the communication (available in 22 languages) prepared under the responsibility of the internal market commissioner Michel Barnier. The English language version of the consultation paper:

Towards a Single Market Act: For a highly competitive social market economy - 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another; Brussels, 27.10.2010 COM(2010) 608 final (45 pages)


Social market economy

The Lisbon Treaty defines the EU aim of a ”highly competitive social market economy” and the Monti report wanted to broaden the support for a relaunch of the single market, so it is hardly surprising that the Commission's discussion paper is presented as (page 3):

This is a social market economy approach, based on the assumption that a single market needs to enjoy the support of all market players: businesses, consumers and workers. In this way, the single market will allow Europe to become collectively competitive.

Single Market and EU2020

The internal market (single market) did not become an integral part of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020), nor was it labeled as a flagship initiative. So how does the communication deal with the relationship between the Single Market Act under construction and the EU2020 strategy? The page 4 fudge:

The relaunch of the single market is therefore an essential element of the EU 2020 strategy, which proposes seven flagship initiatives: (i) an innovation Union, (ii) youth on the move, (iii) a digital agenda for Europe, (iv) a resource-efficient Europe, (v) an industrial policy for the globalisation era, (vi) an agenda for new skills and jobs and (vii) a European platform to tackle poverty. An up-to-date single market is the common foundation of all these structures. It is the tool that will help them create growth and employment and in so doing give new impetus to intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth, thereby increasing synergies between the various flagship initiatives. Certain elements of the flagship initiatives will help to structure the operation of the single market and are therefore measures for its relaunch. These measures are therefore included both in this Communication and the flagship initiatives, in particular the digital agenda for Europe, the Union of innovation and an industrial policy for the globalisation era.

Public consultation

The Commission announced a consultation period of four months, asking for contributions by 28 February 2011 (page 35). This would then lead to the next step, the definitive Single Market Act (SMA):

After this public debate, and based on the conclusions drawn from it, the Commission hopes that all of the European institutions will undertake, at the start of 2011, to make this Act and its 50 measures into the definitive policy action plan for 2011-2012. This will serve as a dynamic commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the single market at the end of 2012.

For the convenience of readers, the proposals sketched in the text are also listed at the end for a quick overview (pages 37-45).


EEA relevance

Naturally, the 50 individual proposals presented in the communication are of interest not only to the citizens and enterprises in the European Union, but to the rest of the European Economic Area (EEA) as well, 30 countries in all, with a total population of about 507 million.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs, which represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, across national and linguistic borders. Among them you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). Besides democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, I increasingly write and speak about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU Single Market Act launched (provisionally)

Yesterday, we looked at the background, the endorsement from the European Council, the advance information from the Commission, as well as the NPthinking blog, EurActiv, the letter from nine European leaders and the recent resolutions by the European Parliament, in 'European Council: Single Market – time to act?'


Single Market priority projects

Later in the day, Commissioner Michel Barnier was in turn. The Commission launched the Single Market Act (SMA) by publishing a customary press release with the main points, available in 22 official EU languages: Twelve projects for the 2012 Single Market: together for new growth; Brussels, 13 April 2011, IP/11/469.

The European Commission promises concrete proposals in twelve priority areas:

1. Access to finance for SMEs
2. Worker mobility in the Single Market
3. Intellectual property rights
4. Consumers: Single Market players
5. Services: strengthening standardisation
6. Stronger European networks
7. Digital Single Market
8. Social entrepreneurship
9. Taxation
10. More social cohesion in the Single Market
11. Regulatory environment for business
12. Public procurement

Also in customary fashion, the Commission released a memo putting things into perspective: Single Market Act – Frequently Asked Questions; Brussels, 13 April 2011, MEMO/11/239. It is available in English only.

The memo answers seven hypothetical questions, with background and explanations:

1. What is the Single Market?
2. Why are you proposing a Single Market Act?
3. How will the Single Market Act meet these challenges and restore confidence?
4. What are the key proposals of the Single Market Act?
5. Is there a deadline for adopting these measures?
6. Why did you not include all 50 proposals put forward in the October 2010 Communication 'Towards a Single Market Act'
7. What are the next steps?

The memo contains useful links to documents from EU institutions and advisory bodies.


EU2020 website

The memo offers a link to the Europe 2020 website.

The Single Market Act and the Europe 2020 growth strategy are kindred spirits, but separate projects. Thus, the memo link to the EU2020 web pages does not turn up any updates or new documents. (By the way, there are still no National Reform Programmes or other documents from the EU member states posted on the Europe 2020 website.)


Single Market Act website

The 'pièce de résistance' is, of course, the communication from the European Commission.

The website dedicated to the Single Market Act has been updated with links to the press release and memo mentioned above, as well as the provisional communication from the Commission in English:

Single Market Act: Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence: "Working together to create new growth"; Brussels, ??, COM(2011) 206/4 (26 pages).

At this point, there is also a French provisional version of the communication:

L'Acte pour le marché unique : Douze leviers pour stimuler la croissance et renforcer la confiance : "Ensemble pour une nouvelle croissance ; Bruxelles, le ??, COM(2011) 206/4

After Italian, all the language versions of the Single Market Act website were hidden behind a posted video and thus inaccessible, but between Bulgarian and Italian some language versions of the web page had still not been updated at all.

There was no German version of the communication yet, although it is one of the three working languages of the Commission; neither did I find the communication in other languages.

The communication is accompanied by SEC(2011) 467.

COM(2011) 206 final and SEC(2011) 467 have not yet been posted on Eur-Lex, under preparatory documents, in any language, but let us hope for improvements within the next few days.



Ralf Grahn

P.S. Even if you do not understand Swedish, Europaportalen.se is worth a look. It is a national website dedicated to EU affairs, with news and interviews, thematic pages, debate and links to outside sources. Run by a surprisingly small team, Europaportalen.se is owned by the main trade unions and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. Could this model be applied elsewhere? See also @europaportalen on Twitter.

EU Commission: Internal market reform

According to Article 26(2) TFEU, the internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties.



Six weeks ago Viviane Reding, the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, joined forces with Michel Barnier, the internal market commissioner, to launch their respective reform packages: European Commission sets out plans to strengthen the Single Market with measures to boost growth and enhance citizens’ rights; Brussels 27 October 2010, IP/10/1390.

In the blog post Improving cross-border rights for EU citizens (29 November 2010) we picked up the citizenship proposals, which have resulted in a long and continuing series of entries on my blogs.

However, now is the time to pick up the internal market thread and to present the various planned actions and proposals.


Support for internal market reform?

The joint press release made an effort to garner wider support for internal market reform:

With 20 million enterprises providing 175 million jobs, businesses play an essential role in finding our way back to growth. The Single Market Act will simplify life for SMEs, which make up more than 99% of Europe's businesses. But Europe's wealth and growth does not only rest on the shoulders of Europe's businesses. A good social system, quality education, competitive jobs and salaries are equally important. The Single Market Act will further strengthen Europe's highly competitive social market economy and will put people at the heart of the Single Market: as consumers, taxpayers, workers, investors, entrepreneurs, patients or pensioners.

The need for broader and more dedicated support was at the core of the report by Mario Monti: A new strategy for the single market: At the service of Europe's economy and society (9 May 2010).


Media viewpoints

In order to get some alternative viewpoints, here are three relatively short media introductions and reactions to the reform plans.

Before Barnier launched his package of proposals, the Europe columnist of The Economist wondered what to expect from a French Gaullist in the way of market reform: Charlemagne's notebook: Barnier's bust-up (25 October 2010)

Just after the presentation of the internal market package, EurActiv offered its readers the salient points: EurActiv: Commission lists 50 ideas to reignite Single Market (28 October 2010)

Nouvelles d'Europe presented a neat summary of background and proposals: Nouvelles d'Europe: Relancer le marché intérieur européen (15 November 2010)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Infopolitics.eu is an aggregator of blog entries and news about information politics in Europe, mainly of the libertarian kind in line with the Greens-EFA and the Pirate Party.

EU Green Paper on e-procurement

The European Commission has launched a consultation on expanding the use of electronic procurement in the internal market: European Commission acts to expand the use of e-procurement in the EU (18 October 2010, press release IP/10/1347; in English, French and German).

According to internal market and services commissioner Michel Barnier, the use of information and communication technology in public procurement increases the speed and efficiency of public purchasing while significantly cutting the costs when participating in tenders.

As often, the Commission offers background information in the form of FAQs: Frequently asked questions: e-Procurement (18 October 2010, MEMO/10/499; only in English).

The Public procurement main page of the Commission offers thematic links to various aspects of public purchasing in the internal market; also in French Marchés publics and in German Öffentliches Auftragswesen.


e-CERTIS database

The Commission is offering access to its e-CERTIS database which provides an on-line storehouse of the documents which are most frequently requested in the 27 Member States (for example, evidence of compliance with fiscal obligations or social security obligations or evidence of economic and financial standing). It allows users to identify such documents and match them with their local equivalent. The use of e-CERTIS helps business operators to reduce costs and uncertainty due to the lack of knowledge about the different certificates requested by the various national contracting authorities:

You can access the e-CERTIS webpage here. The User Guide is in English, but a brochure is available in 21 languages.


Consultation web page

The e-procurement consultation runs until 31 January 2011, and from the consultation web page you can access the Green Paper in 22 official EU languages. Here is a link to the English version:

Green Paper on expanding the use of e-Procurement in the EU; Brussels, 18.10.2010 COM(2010) 571 final (23 pages)

The consultation document is accompanied by the staff working document SEC(2010) 1214. On the consultation page it goes under the name of Evaluation Report and it can be accessed here (162 pages).

The COM and SEC documents have not yet been posted on Eur-Lex under Preparatory acts.


Target groups

Even if the consultation is open to all citizens and organisations, the Commission expects contributions particularly from member states, large procurement agencies and contracting authorities, the ICT industry, procurement specialists in the private and public sector and representatives of business trade associations.




Ralf Grahn

P.S. A Fistful of Euros describes itself as a webzine and a weblog, writing from a pan-European perspective. It is one of the best researched and most influential Euroblogs, widely read with a policy focus which engages many and affects everyone: the economy.

There are now 676 Euroblogs listed on the multilingual blog aggregator Bloggingportal.eu, where you find all the new posts on European affairs.

EU: What is the Single Market Act? Preview by Barnier

On Europe Day, 9 May 2010, professor Mario Monti delivered his report on the internal market to the president of the European Commmission, José Manuel Barroso: A new strategy for the Single Market – At the service of Europe’s economy and society (107 pages).

On 17 June 2010 the European Council endorsed Monti’s report and called for concrete Single Market proposals from the Commission. The European Council promised to discuss the matter in December.



At the European Parliament, Barroso has referred to the report by Mario Monti and he has promised Commission proposals in October 2010 to deepen the internal market.



Single Market Act



On 16 September 2010 Michel Barnier, the Commissioner responsible for the Internal Market and Services, offered an outline of what the promised Single Market Act is going to be. Some of the remarks are specific to the forum, a conference on the Baltic Sea Strategy in Tallinn (Estonia), but most of the section on the Single Market Act is relevant to businesses, from large corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Naturally they are important for politicians, public authorities and interest groups in the thirty nation strong European Economic Area (EEA) as well.

In his preview, Barnier was at pains to demonstrate that the Single Market Act will bring direct benefits to citizens of the EEA countries, too:

Services and e-commerce are important initiatives that have to be completed.

But I feel we have to go further.

I do not know if one can "fall in love with the Single Market", to quote the words of Jacques Delors.

But what I know is that the Single Market is there for the people; it was made for them and it must work to their benefit.

Students, workers or pensioners, consumers or public services users… Everyone experiences obstacles to the Single Market in everyday life. And then they wonder: "what's the point of all this, if it does not work when I need it?"

This is a very serious challenge that we face, and it needs an ambitious response. This response I propose to you today is the 'Single Market Act'. To save and consolidate our common economic and social space of life, and to fight against so many tendencies of protectionism and populism.

This Single Market Act will be a framework communication setting out what the Commission intends to do by 2012.

And what is expected of the other public authorities – meaning you.

I have never believed that Europe could be made by Brussels or some institutions in isolation. Europe is not an abstraction; it is everywhere, here in Tallinn as much as in Berlin or Madrid.

The EU has much more to offer to its people than institutions and rules: it is first and foremost about freedoms and opportunities.

This is the meaning of the Single Market Act.

The Single Market Act will put a strong focus on business and SMEs. SMEs make up 99% of businesses and employ 90% of the work force in Europe.

The Single Market Act will stress the urgency of improving the capacity to innovate of European companies – and I hope we will soon find a solution on patents; my aim is that the first European patent be granted in 2014.

We will also step up the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. These practices do not empower consumers, as some demagogues could make people believe. Quite on the opposite; they ultimately impoverish them by stopping innovation. Why would you take your time and money to create something for which you will not be rewarded?

It will propose ways to help businesses get easier financing. I think of helping out venture capital funds, creating regional stock exchanges for SMEs, and simplifying EU rules on public procurement.

More generally, the Single Market Act will attempt to reduce red tape especially – but not only – for cross-border activities, including in the field of taxation and standardisation policy.

We will act abroad to ensure that European companies get fair access to third country markets, especially public procurement procedures.

The other pillar of the SMA will be to show that Europe works for all citizens.

It will notably concern services of general interest, universal access to banking services or patients' rights to the provision of health services.

We will also ensure that consumers are not discriminated against simply because they do not live in the "right" country. Give them more efficient means of redress in case of cross-border abuse.

Finally, we will improve the free movement of workers by reforming the system of recognition of professional qualifications.

And – I know this is a major issue in the Baltic Sea region – we will try to improve the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive. We must find the right balance between fundamental social rights and equally fundamental economic freedoms to provide services and set up a business in the EU.

Last but not least, the Single Market Act will be about making all stakeholders better informed: if citizens do not know their rights and if practitioners and national administrations do not enforce those rights, there is no point changing the rules in the first place.

This will in turn allow us to develop a clearer view of the malfunctioning in the single market. For that purpose, the Commission will be holding an annual Single Market Forum from 2011 onwards, which is a very good proposal of the European Parliament.

This will start with publishing a list of the "Top 20" of single-market related sources of dissatisfaction for citizens. That way, we can concentrate on what really matters to them and what national obstacles still are to be lifted.

And indeed what we are doing here today, is a kind of a Single market forum at the regional basis for the Nordic countries. I think it is extremely useful and I would like to thank you for this initiative.

As a conclusion, let me say that the Single Market is not all about economics, competition and market opening. It is also about building bridges based on human values, dialogue, understanding, living together – in several nations but in one Europe. A Europe that is united, but not uniform.

I want to listen and understand the challenges you face, especially in the regional context of the Baltic Sea. My services and I are fully committed and available to support you, and I am now eager to hear how we can further help.

Road ahead


The Single Market Act, promised during October 2010, is going to be a framework communication about actions by 2012. In addition to enterprises, the Commission clearly wants to bring tangible benefits to consumers in general and in cross-border situations, as well as mobile citizens.

Barnier’s list of Gordian knots is impressive, even if mentioned only as examples. However, only the Commission’s concrete proposals will reveal its reform ambitions, and the European Council the prospects for progress.

For now, Mario Monti’s report remains the main public source for the reasons behind and the scope for the coming proposals.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Nowadays it is increasingly hard to find European enterprises, public authorities or interest groups without an active social media presence or a stake in European Union affairs. Politics, policies, economics and law at a European level are becoming more important in a globalising world, not less.

EU-related blogs are a significant aspect of the emerging European online public space. There are now 671 Euroblogs, or blogs related to European Union (and Council of Europe) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator.



You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.



Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not increase your understanding of European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?

Tracking eurozone crisis measures: Financial supervision and better governance in motion

Even if the Greek aid package and eurozone stabilisation are the main focus of our tracking exercise, financial regulation and supervision are related areas worth mentioning.

On 12 April 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission held a joint conference on financial integration and stability, the legacy of the crisis (IP/10/417).



The ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet reminded that the financial supervisory framework in the EU will be based on two pillars. The micro-prudential pillar, the European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS), will be composed of the national supervisors and three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) will form the macro-prudential pillar.

According to Trichet, the ECB stands ready to support the ESRB:

in particular taking into account the important presence of the members of the General Council of the ECB in the ESRB and the fact that the ECB will provide the secretariat and analytical, statistical, logistical and administrative support to the ESRB, as required under the legislative proposals. Preparatory work at the ECB has been organised through the setting up of an ad hoc team and is under way so that the ESRB can take up its work after its formal establishment. The ECB is in the process of enhancing its capabilities for monitoring and assessing financial stability risks. Only a number of weeks ago, we reformed our Directorate Financial Stability and Supervision into a Directorate General Financial Stability with more resources.

Internal market commissioner Michel Barnier’s speaking points (in French) stressed the need for proper regulation and supervision of integrated European financial markets.




Further reading: the Commission’s web page on financial services supervision.




On 15 April 2010, Olli Rehn spoke about reinforcing economic governance in Europe (SPEECH/10/160). The commissioner for economic and monetary policy said that the aim of the Europe 2020 strategy is to mobilise growth drivers in order to modernise our social market economies. The second pillar is the consolidation of public finances.

Rehn outlined enhancing economic policy coordination through three main building blocks: reinforcing the Stability and Growth Pact, deepening and broadening economic surveillance and setting up a permanent crisis resolution mechanism.




Ralf Grahn

EP hearing Michel Barnier: Intellectual property rights

The web pages of the European Parliament are overflowing with written and audiovisual material on the hearings by the EP committees of the Commissioners-designate, although the last scheduled hearings have yet to take place today and tomorrow.


Since the 1957 EEC Treaty of Rome, the common market has been a core aim of European integration. The Lisbon Treaty consistently uses the newer term internal market.

The internal market is envisioned as an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the treaties, notably the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Article 26(2) TFEU).

The internal market is generally a shared competence between the European Union and the member states (Article 4(2)(a) TFEU).

In other words, the internal market is one of the core responsibilities of the European Commission, and it is one of the heavyweight portfolios within the Commission.

The designated internal market Commissioner for [2009] to 2014 is Michel Barnier, a former Commissioner and MEP, as well as French government minister.

Without going into the recorded hearing with Barnier, we notice that the summary of his hearing brought nothing to light with regard to intellectual property rights (IPR):



Summary of Hearing of Michel Barnier – Internal Market and Services (13 January 2010)



Highly political issues such as the social nature of the internal market and the future of financial regulation dominated the Barnier hearing summary on EurActiv.fr as well.



In his written answer to the relevant EP committees, Barnier had presented the knowledge based economy as a priority, including the reinforcement of IPR:

Developing a knowledge-based economy: I intend to adapt our intellectual property rights strategy to meet new challenges. The European intellectual property system must be modernised and reinforced in order to promote the knowledge-based economy. I am in favour of an exhaustive and consistent framework for copyright law which will enable us to meet new challenges such as digitisation. Negotiations on the Community patent and the unified patent litigation system must be concluded. To enable European enterprises to realise their full potential for innovation and creation, a modern intellectual property framework is required which will stimulate investment and technological progress and facilitate access to knowledge and its dissemination.

In his written answer Barnier had the following to say regarding IPR when he outlined coming legislative proposals:

In the area of intellectual property rights, I would like to see the development of a consistent legal framework. I will ensure the finalisation of the legislative work on the Community patent and the patent litigation system. I am also planning to modernise the legal framework for trademarks. I intend to reinforce the legal framework relating to the respect of intellectual property rights, which will be further supported by the Counterfeiting and Piracy Observatory.

In the pipeline


We know that intellectual property rights are crucial in the digital age, also as bones of contention. We also know that “manifold initiatives” are in the pipeline to enhance IPR protection in the European Union, with regard to the internal market and criminal law (IPRED2). In parallel with the internal market, secret external trade negotiations are ongoing, with the aim to conclude a plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).



To get a picture of the concerns of citizens, users and consumers, it is worthwhile to look at the questions prepared by La Quadrature du Net ahead of the hearing on copyright and freedoms in the digital age (12 January 2010).




Ralf Grahn



J.K. Educate yourself and brush up your language skills by reading EU-related blogs. Valéry-Xavier Lentz writes a blog, where he deals with Internet issues as well as French and EU politics. Growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts of more than 500 euroblogs at one convenient address.

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