There is broad consensus on the need to rethink the European Single Market so that it works for the citizen and for small and medium-sized businesses rather than the other way round, MEP Louis Grech told a Malta Business Bureau event last week.
Addressing the third Business Meets MEPs event at the Hotel Phoenicia on Thursday which was attended by representatives from the local business community, Mr Grech explained the objectives of the Single Market Act which is scheduled for enactment next year. The legislation is intended to spearhead the single market’s ‘comeback’ and help mark the single market’s 20th anniversary.
There are 20 million businesses in the European Union, providing 175 million jobs and supplying 500 million customers across the European Union with goods and services. But many European citizens and businesses do not seem to see the benefits of the single market.
Just over a year ago, on May 20, the European Parliament called on the Commission to produce a list of political priorities – legislative and non-legislative – through the adoption of a Single Market Act. The Act’s objective was to create a highly competitive social market and green economy.
Last October, the Commission adopted the Communication entitled “Towards a Single Market Act, for a highly competitive social market economy: 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another”.
In response to that communication, and after deliberations in 10 parliamentary committees under the leadership of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection – of which Mr Grech is one of the vice-chairs – the European Parliament adopted own-initiative reports on the three pillars of the Single Market Act.
On April 13, the Commission adopted the final version of the Single Market Act. It contains 12 projects on which to re-launch the single market in 2012. The projects include access to finance for SMEs, intellectual property rights, consumer empowerment, social entrepreneurship, and taxation.
Last week, Mr Grech, who is disappointed innovation and competitiveness were not given enough weight in the Act, warned there was still much work to be done in the next few months.
“There is currently a lack of clear leadership and ownership of the numerous initiatives that have been adopted to ensure that the re-launch of the single market is a success,” he said. “It is essential that the European Commission and the member states take ownership of this initiative if it is to be successful.”
While the authorities were working to support citizens and small businesses to access the benefits of the single market, the government had to “seriously think” about designing an integrated policy for SMEs, Mr Grech said. The policy would map out a strategy to help small businesses strengthen their position in their own markets and facilitate access to the European single market.
He stressed that the single market needed to be economically viable, politically supported and socially acceptable if it was to be successful in the long-term. Without a functioning single market, he emphasised, the very essence of the EU would be threatened.
With small businesses making up the backbone of the EU’s commercial community, SMEs should be the prime “movers and shakers” within the single market.
“Undeniably, a number of contentious issues will be addressed as part of the re-launch of the single market over the coming months, including the proposal to establish a common fiscal policy and a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base,” Mr Grech pointed out.
The genesis of the Single Market Act stems from a report Mr Grech had compiled in which he listed some strategic proposals: two advocated the insertion of a Citizens’ Charter and a Single Market Forum in the Act. Mr Grech explained these particular initiatives aimed to provide structure to a process that would see a periodic audit of the act’s adoption and practicality as a way to establish the “state of play”.
Earlier, in his introduction, MBB president John Huber said it was time to hold a more active, informed discussion on the Single Market Act, following up on the debate the MBB had on the Act’s original 50 proposals. While the EU presented opportunities for Malta’s small businesses, it also posed challenges. Difficulties faced by SMEs and the real reasons why many firms were still not capitalising on the benefits of the single market should be addressed in the single market’s re-launch, he said.