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, ladies and gentlemen, we have been talking for years about the potential of the single market, but the truth is that that potential is still largely blocked. While our competitors innovate and attract investment, too many European companies are still trapped by bureaucracy and regulatory fragmentation. This has a real cost: Less growth, less investment, less jobs. It's time to turn words into actions. We need to complete the integration of the services and digital market, reduce the administrative burden, which weighs mainly on small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups, and introduce truly operational simplification tools and an effective European one-stop shop for businesses. We need to accelerate the capital markets union, because European talent cannot continue to find funding outside Europe, and we need to invest in skills, to accompany the industrial and technological transition with stable and quality work. A functioning single market is not a technical objective, it is a political choice. European competitiveness is not defended by new obstacles, but by freeing the energies of those who create, invest and work.