“The need for free trade across Europe has been recognised since the 1950s, with its formalisation starting 20 years ago with the launch of the European Single Market Act.
At that time, goods were still stopped at internal frontiers and 300 pieces of information were collected for each shipment! This was bad for trade and definitely bad for the economic well-being of each European country.
Since then the EU has grown to 27 members, and the Single Market has continued to evolve. The goal is to achieve an economic area in which goods, services, people and capital can move freely. Much has been achieved to meet these goals. The Single Market adds 2.13% or £187 billion to the GDP of the 27 EU Member States; that is £400 for every British citizen. In addition 2.77 million new jobs have been created.
Exploiting the Internet, and the impact of the Single Market in cutting broadband and mobile data costs, has huge potential for cross-border business. The creation of a digital single market could add more than £700 billion a year to the EU economy, equivalent to £3800 for each household across the UK.
There are clear commitments to bring the Single Market into the digital age, including reforms to cross-border payments, data protection, electronic signatures and intellectual property. More still needs to be done here. There is likely to be a third phase of work pushing digital frontiers still further.
It is vitally important for the Single Market to work for all consumers and citizens and not just for businesses. The Single Market Act programme, which is the biggest political programme impacting the completion of the Internal Market since 1992, includes measures to ensure safer products, improved rights for consumers (especially when making package travel bookings online), enhanced monitoring of the retail sector, and simplified procedures for registering cars in other Member States. It is important for consumers to be able to exert their rights by promoting the use of model contracts for cross-border purchases.
But the Single Market cannot be inward-looking – it’s about imports and exports outside the EU as well as cross-border movement of goods and services.
With US President Barack Obama elected for a further four years, it is vital that, under his leadership, he ensures that the US continues to work with the EU. Add to this the change in leadership in China, and it's clear that the US and the EU now have the opportunity to reach out together to this rapidly-growing economy, making the global trading system work better and more fairly.
A fully-functioning Single Market provides a strong foundation for other key policies to make the European Union a globally competitive and highly innovative region. We must encourage companies to take advantage of a very large, easily accessible market by investing in research and development. The impact of the new Horizon 2020 research programme will be multiplied by an open market environment. Researchers must be able to move freely and exchange ideas across the European Research Area.
The Single Market has opened up enormous opportunities for us all to study, play and work abroad. However, as it hits its 20th anniversary, we are still have much to do to unlock its full potential. We need to embrace and drive the Single Market forward at this time of recession. At this time of recession, it provides a political solution for the delivery of much-needed jobs and economic growth.
Whatever our thoughts are about the EU, being part of the Single Market and working with the other member states is vital for the British economy. With every person benefiting to the sum of £400 as it stands now, and potentially every household benefiting by a further £3800 when the digital single market moves to its next stages, it's time to be single-minded about the Single Market."
Malcolm Harbour is a Senior Adviser to EPC on the Single Market