Group items tagged

Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 17 Issue 7 2010 At the Frontier of the Single European Market: The Political Economy of Market Integration in the Early Twenty-first Century Highly ranked in the Public Administration category of the ISI Social Sciences Citation Index. ISSN: 1466-4429 (electronic) 1350-1763 (paper) Publication Frequency: 8 issues per year Subjects: European Studies; Public Policy; Publisher: Routledge

The message was clear and universal: José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, needs to take a stronger leadership role to push through the Single Market Act, according to a debate on Thursday (18 November).

Simply put, the single market is the framework of rules that help goods, services, money and people move across borders. The single market means fewer hassles, taxes and paperwork at custom and immigration crossings. It's the reason mobile phone bills have declined 70% and airfares by 40% since 1992, according to the Commission. But too many European citizens and businesses don't see the benefits, and Lord Leon Brittan, a UK government trade advisor, said that's because the market has not fully delivered on its promises: "You can't buy goods online in other member states and small and medium-sized enterprises can't access other markets because of onerous requirements."

"Where are the concrete proposals?" he asked. Indeed, many of the 50 seem to lack punch, including: No. 7: Next year, the Commission will adopt a white paper on transport policy, which will propose a series of measures intended in particular to remove the remaining obstacles identified between national systems of transport. No. 10: Before 2012, the Commission will look into the feasibility of an initiative on the ecological footprint of products to address the issue of the environmental impact of products, including carbon emissions. The initiative will explore possibilities for establishing a common methodology to assess and label them. No. 32: The Commission will launch a consultation with the social partners (key labour and business representatives) in order to create a European framework for the advance planning of industrial restructuring.