What the EU Single Market Strategy Means for Businesses and Member States

The European Commission’s new Strategy for Making the Single Market Simple, Seamless and Strong reaffirms that the Single Market as the backbone of EU competitiveness, prosperity, stability and solidarity. Yet the Commission itself acknowledges that the system still falls short of its potential—and that substantial reforms are needed.

At the heart of the Strategy is a renewed push to dismantle the barriers that continue to fragment the Single Market. These include overly complex and overlapping rules that increase compliance costs, divergent procedures across EU and national regulators, and public procurement rules that remain too burdensome to encourage cross-border participation. The Commission also points to persistent gaps in how some Member States apply Single Market principles, resulting in restrictive national rules that undermine harmonisation.

The Strategy highlights further obstacles: inconsistent rules for setting up and operating companies across borders, slow and fragmented EU-wide standard-setting, and constraints imposed by producers that prevent certain everyday goods from being marketed freely across the EU—driving price differences between countries.

In our Opinion INT 1094 on the Single Market Strategy, we endorse the Commission’s priorities, noting that they align closely with the concerns long raised by businesses, workers and other stakeholders. We stress, however, that the Strategy’s success will ultimately depend on effective implementation and robust enforcement of existing and future rules.

While we support greater EU-level coherence, the Opinion warns that Member States and social partners must be closely involved in any legislative changes aimed at simplifying regulation. The EESC will take on a more active role in governance matters, including a reinforced position within the Single Market Enforcement Taskforce.

The Opinion urges the Commission to address territorial supply constraints and to advance efforts to harmonise product labelling, which it sees as essential for consumer protection and fair competition across borders. It also welcomes the proposal for an optional “28th Regime” for businesses—an EU-wide framework running in parallel with national regimes—provided safeguards are in place to prevent misuse, including ensuring a genuine link between a company’s headquarters and its real economic activity.

Recognising the importance of innovation, the EESC sees standardisation as a key enabler, but insists it must be transparent and inclusive. It similarly backs efforts to simplify the recognition of professional qualifications across Member States, while underlining the need for rigor, particularly in safety-critical sectors, and warning against over-reliance on self-certification.

We also call for the Single Market’s scope to extend to strategically important sectors identified in the recent Letta Report—notably energy and financial services—to enhance the EU’s long-term resilience and competitiveness.

The reforms outlined, from cutting regulatory barriers to boosting services, supporting SMEs, improving enforcement, and extending the Single Market into strategically vital sectors, represent an opportunity to create a more cohesive, competitive and resilient Europe. Delivering on this ambition will depend not only on EU institutions, but on active engagement from Member States, social partners and civil society. If that collective effort can be secured, the Single Market can continue to serve as a driver of prosperity, innovation and fairness for all Europeans.

Neil Walker, EESC Employers' Group member and member of the Study Group of Opinion INT/1094 Single Market Strategy.