20
May
2026
Watch
High time to deliver on the Single Market, providing certainty and predictability for EU businesses and quality jobs (continuation of debate)
Madam President, Dear Vice-President of the Commission! Dear colleagues! The European single market is one of the greatest achievements of our European Union. It creates growth, jobs, prosperity; At the same time, however, it also shows: For many companies, everyday life is still far too complicated. Especially in the service sector, companies continue to experience different national regulations, reporting obligations and administrative procedures. Mario Draghi has clearly described in his report where the problems lie: not in the absence of economic strength, but in the case of too much fragmentation and too many hurdles of the internal market. The new Roadmap ‘One Europe, One Market’ rightly insists on more harmonisation, faster procedures and a more consistent completion of the internal market. While other regions of the world scale and invest faster, we in Europe often lose too much time – and too much regulatory complexity. The answer to this cannot be less, but must be more Europe. We finally want One in, 27 out. In our border regions in particular, we are witnessing the importance of a functioning internal market. I come from the Upper Palatinate, from Bavaria, on the border with the Czech Republic. And that is where we see how closely our supply chains are connected and how important it is for the economic cooperation of both countries to have a single market. That is why we must finally get out of the Sunday speeches to concrete measures. We are confident that the new Roadmap can succeed.