Single Market Act – Twelve levers

Key points:

In its opinion the EESC:

- notes that many of the levers proposed were not new as promised; would like to understand the logical thread of the overall political option leading to the Commission making their choice of twelve out of many;
- calls upon the EC to continue to work with the remaining proposals and to consider the levers set out in the Committee's previous opinion on the Single Market Act; 
- hopes to be consulted on proposals already being drafted and the other concrete proposals in order to express the views of all relevant stakeholders;
- emphasises that responsibility for the development of the Single Market concerns many policy areas and notes the importance of initiatives such as the Digital Agenda;
- reiterates its call for a holistic approach and thinks that, while promoting growth and business potential is essential, the proposals should focus more on consumers and citizens.

Finally, the EESC calls for zero tolerance in case of the non-implementation of EU legislation by Member States and points out that delayed, inconsistent and incomplete implementation remains a major barrier to a functioning Single Market. The publication of correlation tables by Member States would contribute to the promotion and understanding of the Single Market.