The European Parliament adopted by 600 votes to 48, with 27 abstentions, a resolution on a Single Market for Europeans in response to the Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards a Single Market Act -50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another’.

Members consider that the Communication's proposals are generally in line with Parliament’s expectations, but need to be further strengthened in order for citizens to be at the heart of the Single Market project.

Parliament takes the view that Europeans have not yet fully exploited the potential of the Single Market in many areas, including the free movement of persons, goods and services, and that new incentives are needed in particular to ensure effective geographical labour mobility across Europe. The Single Market strategy should strengthen social welfare and workers' rights and ensure fair working conditions for all Europeans.

Members consider that efforts to complete the Single Market need to concentrate on the concerns and rights of citizens, consumers, public service users and businesses and bring them tangible benefits in order to restore their full confidence in the Single Market and make them more aware of the opportunities it offers. They urge Member States and the Commission to join forces to put the Single Market message across to citizens and to ensure that its benefits are recognised.

The resolution stresses that the Single Market for Europeans is primarily about jobs and creating new jobs. The 19 actions proposed by the Commission should be prioritised according to their impact on job creation and their delivery of tangible benefits as well as their feasibility for European citizens in a realistic period of time.

Members recall also that Parliament called for greater recognition for social economy enterprises (foundations, mutual societies and associations), including the generalised integration of the concept into EU policies.

The Commission is asked to endorse the following list of proposals as key Parliament priorities:

adopt a clear and readily accessible ‘Citizens’ Charter’ on the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, and to develop targeted, multilingual information about the everyday problems that citizens encounter when moving, shopping or selling across Europe and the social, health, consumer protection and environmental protection standards on which they can rely; take measures to increase the mobility of European citizens , in particular by publishing by September 2011 a Green Paper on the recognition of professional qualifications, including an assessment of the existing framework, and, if appropriate, to propose a legislative initiative to reform this framework in 2012, at the same time assessing the feasibility and the added value of EU wide professional identity cards and a ‘European skills passport’ in 2011 and setting up a ‘mobility scoreboard’ to measure mobility within the EU; play a more active role in coordinating the activities of national market surveillance and customs authorities, in order to improve the effectiveness of border controls on goods imported from third countries, and to draw up in 2011 a multiannual action plan for the development of an effective European market surveillance system for all products , while allowing Member States flexibility in fulfilling their legal obligations; ask the Member States which are still imposing restrictions on their labour markets to review their transitional provisions in order to open up their labour markets to all European workers; present put forward practical proposals to extend consumer protection against unfair commercial practices to small businesses; sponsor a European skills exchange whereby small and medium sized enterprises can benefit from the skills available in larger enterprises; propose an extension of the existing roaming regulation both in time - to June 2015 - and in scope, introducing retail price caps for data roaming; submit by June 2011 a legislative proposal on guaranteeing access to certain basic banking services and to improve the transparency and comparability of bank charges by the end of 2011; eliminate the tax obstacles still faced by European citizens, with stronger action to prevent double taxation of European citizens; come up with a legislative proposal to remove obstacles encountered by mobile workers in order to ensure the full portability of pension rights ; clarify the criteria governing the compatibility of state aid and public procurement in connection with social services of general interest (SSGI) with the internal market.

An amendment adopted in plenary calls on the Commission to ensure that all social rights are respected and that a reference to social policies and rights in single market legislation should be included, where justified in the light of the conclusions of an assessment of the social impact of proposed legislation.

Another amendment calls on the Commission and the Member States, on the basis of their respective competences, to ensure that services of general economic interest (SGEI), including social services of general interest (SSGI), are secured within a framework of universal access, high quality, affordability and clear financing rules by providing public authorities with a ‘tool-kit’ to evaluate the quality of such services.

Lastly, emphasising the lack of direct communication with citizens , Parliament considers that the EU representations in the Member States must be mandated to respond immediately to negative and misleading reports in the media by presenting the facts, and should make further efforts to provide information on European legislation, projects and programmes, thereby also promoting informed debate on European issues.

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the own-initiative report by António Fernando CORREIA DE CAMPOS (S&D, PT) on a Single Market for Europeans. It welcomes the Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards a Single Market Act -50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another’.

Members consider that the Communication's proposals are generally in line with Parliament’s expectations, but need to be further strengthened in order for citizens to be at the heart of the Single Market project.

The committee takes the view that Europeans have not yet fully exploited the potential of the Single Market in many areas, including the free movement of persons, goods and services, and that new incentives are needed in particular to ensure effective geographical labour mobility across Europe. The Single Market strategy should strengthen social welfare and workers' rights and ensure fair working conditions for all Europeans.

Members consider that efforts to complete the Single Market need to concentrate on the concerns and rights of citizens, consumers , public service users and businesses and bring them tangible benefits in order to restore their full confidence in the Single Market and make them more aware of the opportunities it offers. They urge Member States and the Commission to join forces to put the Single Market message across to citizens and to ensure that its benefits are recognised.

The report stresses that the Single Market for Europeans is primarily about jobs and creating new jobs. The 19 actions proposed by the Commission should be prioritised according to their impact on job creation and their delivery of tangible benefits as well as their feasibility for European citizens in a realistic period of time.

Members recall also that Parliament called for greater recognition for social economy enterprises, including the generalised integration of the concept into EU policies.

The Commission is asked to endorse the following list of proposals as key Parliament priorities:

adopt a clear and readily accessible ‘Citizens’ Charter’ on the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, and to develop targeted, multilingual information about the everyday problems that citizens encounter when moving, shopping or selling across Europe and the social, health, consumer protection and environmental protection standards on which they can rely; take measures to increase the mobility of European citizens, in particular by publishing by September 2011 a Green Paper on the recognition of professional qualifications, including an assessment of the existing framework, and, if appropriate, to propose a legislative initiative to reform this framework in 2012, at the same time assessing the feasibility and the added value of EU wide professional identity cards and a ‘European skills passport’ in 2011 and setting up a ‘mobility scoreboard’ to measure mobility within the EU; play a more active role in coordinating the activities of national market surveillance and customs authorities, in order to improve the effectiveness of border controls on goods imported from third countries, and to draw up in 2011 a multiannual action plan for the development of an effective European market surveillance system for all products, while allowing Member States flexibility in fulfilling their legal obligations; ask the Member States which are still imposing restrictions on their labour markets to review their transitional provisions in order to open up their labour markets to all European workers; present put forward practical proposals to extend consumer protection against unfair commercial practices to small businesses; sponsor a European skills exchange whereby small and medium sized enterprises can benefit from the skills available in larger enterprises; propose an extension of the existing roaming regulation both in time to June 2015 - and in scope, introducing retail price caps for data roaming; submit by June 2011 a legislative proposal on guaranteeing access to certain basic banking services and to improve the transparency and comparability of bank charges by the end of 2011; eliminate the tax obstacles still faced by European citizens, with stronger action to prevent double taxation of European citizens; come up with a legislative proposal to remove obstacles encountered by mobile workers in order to ensure the full portability of pension rights; clarify the criteria governing the compatibility of state aid and public procurement in connection with social services of general interest (SSGI) with the internal market.

Lastly, Members call for measures to create an appropriate legal framework for foundations, mutual societies and associations so as to give them European status, to prevent legal uncertainty.

The Council held a debate on the Single Market Act (SMA), a two year plan (2011-2012) of 50 initiatives aimed at ensuring continuous optimisation of the internal market and contributing to the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 objectives on stimulating employment and economic growth.

The debate was preceded by a Commission presentation on the main findings of a public consultation conducted by the Commission which was completed in February 2011. In particular, delegations expressed views on the criteria to be used for choosing the area for a priority commitment by the institutions and Member States and how to define the priority actions for achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy in the most effective way.

In the light of the debate, the forthcoming opinion of the European Parliament and the findings of the public consultation, the Commission is expected shortly to present a selection of initiatives that will better contribute to overcoming the economic crisis and to promoting growth and employment.

On 10 December 2010, the Council adopted conclusions on the SMA, committing Member States to define the priority measures that should be in place before the end of 2012 in order to facilitate access to the single market, support businesses, encourage growth andhelp to create jobs.

The conclusions also endorsed the general approach of the SMA, submitted by the Commission in October 2010, according to which the single market must rest upon a strong economic and social basis with a view to building a highly competitive economy.

The Council held an exchange of views on the further development of the EU's single market, in the light of a communication from the Commission, entitled "Towards a single market act for a highly competitive social market economy".

It agreed to re-examine the issue in due course.

The Council adopted conclusions on the " Single Market Act" (SMA), a two-year plan (2011-2012) of 50 initiatives aimed at ensuring continuous optimisation of the internal market and contributing to the successful implementation of the EU 2020 objectives on stimulating employment and economic growth.

The conclusions endorse the general approach of the SMA, according to which the single market must rest upon a strong economic and social basis with a view to building a highly competitive economy.

In particular, the conclusions will address:

· business and citizens’ concerns that prevent them from taking full benefit of the advantages of the single market;

· the use of tools to develop new sources of growth in both services and industrial sectors;

· European international competitiveness and;

· the design of a new collective strategy to ensure a successful relaunch of the internal market.

The conclusions also commit the Council to continue to examine the SMA with a view to defining the priority measures that should be in place before the end of 2012, in order to facilitate access to the single market, support businesses, encourage growth and help to create jobs.

PURPOSE: to strengthen the single market by means of measures stimulating growth and enhanced citizens’ rights (a Single Market Act).

BACKGROUND: the EU’s single market is the keystone of more than 60 years of European integration. The combined effect of the integration of the single market, in particular the liberalisation liberalisation of network industries, and enlargement has been to create 2.75 million additional jobs and growth of 1.85% in the period 1992–2009, according to Commission estimates.

Nevertheless, the single market can offer a lot more than growth and employment . Its potential has not been fully exploited. For example, cross-border procurement accounted for only around 1.5% of all public contracts awarded in 2009. The Commission estimates that completing, deepening and making full use of the single market would potentially produce growth of about 4% of GDP over the next ten years.

President Barroso asked Mario Monti to submit a report on the relaunch of the single market . This report proposes a new strategy to safeguard the single market from the risk of economic nationalism, to extend it into new areas key for Europe's growth and to build an adequate degree of consensus around it. The European Parliament, in its resolution of 20 May 2010 , stressed that single market integration is not an irreversible process, and the continued existence of the single market should not be taken for granted.

This observation is already a reason for more ambitious single market policies to promote a highly competitive social market policy for all stakeholders: business, consumers and workers. This is the very essence of this Single Market Act , which the Commission is now putting forward for public discussion. After this discussion, the Commission will invite the other Institutions to give their formal agreement to the final version of the Act.

This Act is presented in parallel with the 2010 report on European citizenship.

CONTENT: this communication proposes 50 measures with a view completing, deepening and fully exploiting the single market.

1) Strong, sustainable and equitable growth for business: t here are 20 million businesses in the EU, providing 175 million jobs and supplying the EU’s 500 million consumers and many more worldwide with goods and services. A key factor in the competitiveness of these businesses is the single market. SMEs offer the highest potential for employment and are therefore worthy of special attention in the single market, as well as targeted measures to reflect their concerns. The priorities are as follows:

· Promoting and protecting creativity: to improve the way in which they face international competition, our businesses, inventors and creators must be able to develop within a single market that is as conducive as possible to innovation and creativity. The European Parliament and the Council should take the necessary steps to adopt the proposals for the EU patent , its languages and the unified patent litigation system. The aim is for the first EU patents to be issued in 2014. In 2011 the Commission will submit a proposal for a framework Directive on the management of copyrights as well as an action plan against counterfeiting and piracy, including both legislative and non-legislative measures.

· Promoting new approaches towards sustainable development: the Single Market Act should be used as a tool to launch initiatives to create a more effective system of standards, a more consistent approach to energy taxation throughout the market, continued development of the single markets for services and defence and development of the supply of high-quality environmental products. The ‘mutual evaluation’ process of the Services Directive will also be continued with the aim of further developing this sector, which is crucial to the European economy. In addition, as the Commission's ‘Digital Agenda’ has highlighted, it must be ensured that the potential for growth and the wide range of goods and services that the digital market can provide are fully exploited. Finally, what is true of the services Directive as a general legal instrument is also true of specific sectors, such as the transport services sector, which is the 'nervous system' of the single market.

· For small and medium-sized enterprises: the single market must in particular create a legal environment that is favourable to the creation and development of SMEs. In this respect, the matter of access to financing is crucial. The Commission will adopt an action plan for improving SME access to capital markets in 2011. This will include measures to make investors more aware of SMEs, to develop an efficient stock exchanges network or specific regulated markets focussing on SMEs and to make listing and disclosure requirements more adapted to SMEs.

· Funding innovation and long-term investment: a ccess to funding is essential for innovation and sustainable growth. Equally, businesses should be able to develop long-term strategies. Finally, it should be possible to mobilise private savings – where necessary in cooperation with public investments – towards massive investment in the infrastructures that are central to the success of the Europe 2020 strategy.

· Creating a business-friendly legal and fiscal environment: the measures proposed in this sector envisage, inter alia, a reduction of the administrative and regulatory burden. Very practical initiatives will therefore be taken to ensure the linking of company registers and the mutual recognition of e-identification and e-authentication in the European Union. Taxation issues are also crucial. Initiatives relating to the corporate tax base or to VAT will be designed to limit the administrative burden on businesses and to promote cross-border activity. Defence and security are also deserving of attention.

· Being competitive in global markets: the EU is the greatest exporter of goods and services in the world and one of the major recipients of foreign direct investment. Greater convergence of international rules will certainly benefit EU countries, particularly by reducing the costs incurred by having to adapt to rules or standards which are different from those which apply in Europe. It is also very important to ensure that EU businesses have access to external markets, and in particular public procurement, on fair terms. The use all appropriate means to combat unfair trading practices.

2) Europeans at the heart of the single market : a new objective is to use efficient markets to support the creativity and dynamism of EU businesses and, at the same time, to restore the faith of Europeans in their single market.

· Improving public services and key infrastructure: t he EU and its Member States need to guarantee the existence of a regulatory framework that allows public services to perform their tasks and meet the needs of all citizens. The EU also needs to fulfil a new ambition in identifying and helping to quickly establish the infrastructure that is most essential to the fluidity of the single market and to the development of new services for Europeans. In particular, the Europe 2020 strategy provides for the development of infrastructures enabling high-speed internet access for all in 2013.

· Increasing solidarity in the single market: the concept of a 'highly competitive social market economy' requires us to adopt a more all-embracing view of the single market. Economic freedoms and freedoms of collective action must be reconciled. New life must be breathed into the social dialogue. The freedoms afforded by a single market must benefit both the strongest and the weakest, including those with disabilities and the elderly. Particular attention must be paid to the access of people with visual and hearing impairments to goods and services, especially in the cultural sphere.

· Access to employment and lifelong learning: specific tools must be proposed to promote and facilitate the flow of skills within the single market. In 2012, the Commission will propose a legislative initiative to reform the systems for the recognition of professional qualifications in order to facilitate the mobility of workers and adapt training to current labour market requirements. Mobility needs to become a normal part of each young European’s training: the Commission is in the process of evaluating the possibility of creating European student loans for mobility.

· New resources for the social market economy: the Social Business Initiative must enable the reserves of talent and financial resources already available in the Member States to be tapped into by bringing together, within the single market, management and finance professionals and entrepreneurs with socially innovative projects which stimulate growth. The second proposal on legal forms sets out initiatives for improving the legal environment within which some market economy activities are organised. Lastly, the third proposal concerning corporate governance and corporate social responsibility sets out an initiative to redefine the role of businesses in today's economy.

· A single market serving consumers: in early 2011, the Commission will adopt a legislative initiative on access to certain basic banking services. It will also propose a Directive geared towards the creation of a single integrated mortgage market with a high level of consumer protection. It will adopt a Communication aimed at identifying and eliminating the tax obstacles still facing European citizens. Lastly, it will adopt a proposal amending the regulation on the rights of air passengers.

All interested parties are invited to submit their points of view to the Commission regarding this relaunch of the single market and, in particular, on the 50 measures proposed in this document by 28 February 2011 at the latest.