Single Market Enforcement Action Plan

INT/899 - INT/908

EESC opinion on:

- the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Long term action plan for better implementation and enforcement of single market rules - COM(2020) 94 final
- the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Identifying and addressing barriers to the Single Market - COM(2020) 93 final.

Key points

The EESC:

• supports the Commission's Long-term action plan for better implementation and enforcement of single market rules;
• is willing to support and endorses the Commission's Communication on Identifying and tackling barriers to the single market;
• believes that for too long the insufficient or inadequate application of EU rules has been the Achilles heel of EU law, and that therefore many instances of fraud and illegal behaviour have not been dealt with;
• urges the Commission to include in the action plan a clearly defined role for civil society actors, entrepreneurs, workers and consumers;
• stresses that the crisis linked to the spread of COVID-19 entails serious risks for the single market, namely that differences between EU countries in terms of economic development, social guarantees and levels of prosperity could increase after the pandemic is over;
• notes that despite the real achievements of the single market, businesses and consumers still report too many remaining obstacles.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat.