This year marks 21 years of continuous development of the European Single Market. Since 1992, the Single Market has generated nearly three million jobs and provided about 23 million companies operating in the EU with access to over 500 million consumers.
Evidence clearly indicates that the European Single Market has achieved a great deal. But the process is far from over. Great potential still lies in further integration, potential that mustbe fully exploited. This is all the more true in relation to the digital sector.
The Single Market is an ongoing project that will continue to further develop and adapt to changing realities. With the digital age upon us, the integration of European markets on a digital platform is more important than ever.
The Single Market Act I presented by the Commission in 2011 touched upon the issue of digitalising the Single Market but inadequately so. The Single Market Act II, proposed by the Commission in late 2012, more appropriately addresses the needs of a DSM that will unleash its full potential.
In 2010, the European Policy Centre (EPC) issued its initial assessment of the predicted impact of instating an effective European Digital Single Market. They endorsed the importance of dismantling digital barriers between European countries. And they concluded that the EU risks falling behind if action is not taken to implement a secure digital Single Market.
The digital economy possesses great potential for growth and innovation. Global competitors, including the US, Japan, and South Korea, are undergoing vast expansion in the digitalisation of their economies. Increased productivity and competitiveness are projected to follow.
The digital economy possesses great potential for growth and innovation
The Single Market Act is focused on creating an integrated and competitive digital business policy that acts as a large-scale business platform for all European firms. This must be done in order to address the current state of fragmentation resulting from the 28 member states’ separate digital markets.
MEP Sharon Bowles expresses this similar sentiment in relation to EU financial legislation when she stated that “we do not want European financial legislation to look like Swiss cheese with holes and carve-outs. The EU needs a single rulebook for a truly Single Market in financial services”.
In more tangible terms, freedom of movement of goods, services and people poses numerous challenges. Overcoming these, hinges, to a great extent, on the ability for information to also move freely. A DSM would encompass this because as people and businesses move across borders, their information should also be transferred from one member state to another. This would enable member state administrations to service citizens more effectively.
The current situation is one in which digital systems vary greatly across the EU and are generally tailored for internal use. However, with the inevitable increase in movement of people, national administrations will need to better adapt their digital systems to this changing reality.
Further integration of a DSM will also facilitate and increase intra-EU cross-border trade. It should allow consumers the ability to access information, compare prices and product offerings and have their purchases paid for and delivered with efficiency and ease. This increase will broaden consumer choices, thus comprehensively improving the European marketplace.
Further development of the Single Market and, indeed, the DSM has never been more crucial. Tough economic times continue to plague many of our immediate neighbours. And even when institutions fully recover, the social crisis on the ground, mainly attributable to unemployment, will linger for years. Unleashing still locked with the Single Market can go a long way to addressing this reality.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.