The ECR Group in the European Committee of the Regions held a panel on the Future of the Single Market today. Moderated by ECR member Lorenzo Galligani, CoR rapporteur on the Single Market, the panel was opened by ECR Group President Marco Marsilio and saw the participation of Jadwiga Emilewicz, Former Polish Deputy Prime Minister Vice-President of the Sobieski Institute; Ilpo Heltimoinen, former CoR member and CoR rapporteur on Strengthening local and regional economic resilience;  and Natália Čerňanová, Member of the youth wing of the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS) from Slovakia in representation of the young conservative.

"More needs to be done to remove obstacles and reduce inefficiencies in the integration of the Single Market. As data shows, a 10% reduction in remaining barriers could lead to gains of up to 7% of GDP" underlined Mr Galligani in his intervention, who added how the ECR Group has always been very vocal in their support of   SMEs. He added that this support "will continue, especially when it come to make the Single Market more efficient, simplifying rules and procedures and make our businesses more competitive".

Modernising the Single Market means making our economies not only more competitive but also more efficient, as underlined by Ms Emilewicz: "For years, we’ve been talking about barriers to the single market, yet very little is done to remove them. When Europe faces economic challenges, national governments often tighten restrictions on the single market, while the European Commission introduces new regulations. This is especially true for EU  businesses, particularly SMEs, which struggle with fragmentation, inconsistent rule enforcement, and bureaucratic hurdles. Barriers in sectors like transport, construction, and digital services limit cross-border operations".

Panelists agreed on the guiding principle that more work has to be done to remove the main obstacles and bureaucracy that continues to hinder Single Market integration, sharing a common view that the current political momentum could be used to strengthen the Single Market and European prosperity.