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, Vice-President, I think sometimes we need to restate the obvious and to take a look from the outside. What is the European Union, in fact? It's a very strange animal. Empires until now were built through force. Historically, it's the first time – maybe someone can correct me – where countries join of their own will, let's say, a certain 'empire'. How do they do that? They have to give up their sovereignty. That's never happened before. To join the club, you have to do something. You have to give up for what? For prosperity, for collective bargaining, mentioned by the left, for the benefits that you get, with all its attendant problems. However, it seems to me that, once they've joined the club, they're like professors with tenure: they stop publishing. We need to continue the energy of membership so that we break down the national interest, as was mentioned earlier. The single market problem will not be solved only by Brussels. Only if the countries themselves take the responsibility for the difficult giving up of sovereignty, breaking national interest, the banking system, worker regulations that are never followed will we have a true single market.