The administrative stagnation of the European Single Market, an obstacle to the competitiveness of the community bloc at a global level

The administrative stagnation of the European Single Market is said to be one of the causes of the decline of the community bloc at the global level, according to an opinion published by the website europeangeneration.eu. The cited source shows that, although the single market must ensure the free movement of goods, services, people and capital within Europe, eliminating bureaucratic barriers and strengthening the competitiveness of the continent on the global stage, in reality the respective market continues to function well below its potential, blocked between political ambition and administrative bureaucracy.

The opinion also presents the example of the Belgian company Umicore, reported in early 2025 by the Financial Times, a multinational in the field of recycling critical materials, specialized in the recovery of electronic components, which was forced to fight not with the lack of a market, but with the European regulatory thicket. That is why more and more suppliers prefer to export waste outside the continent simply to avoid complex internal procedures, written in several languages and different from one member state to another.

According to the cited source, this situation reveals the central paradox of the European project: after three decades of existence, the single market - designed to simplify and streamline internal trade - continues to suffer from the same structural problems that should have been overcome long ago.

When it was officially launched in January 1993, after a legislative effort that began in 1986 with the Single European Act, the promise was huge. Member States adopted hundreds of regulatory acts to eliminate technical, legal and administrative obstacles to free trade, and the initial results were spectacular. Internal trade has grown from euro671 billion in 1993 to euro4,135 billion in 2023, more than 17 million Europeans now live or work in another EU country, and 16 million young people have benefited from educational mobility programmes. At the time, it seemed that Europe had finally found the key to sustainable prosperity.

The author of the opinion, Eloisa Versaci, argues that the success of that time has gradually turned into administrative stagnation. Although policies aimed at simplifying the rules have been implemented - such as the "Points of Single Contact”, introduced in 2009 for online access to administrative requirements, or the "EU Pilot” mechanism, which resolves legal conflicts before sanctions - the effects of these initiatives have been limited. Therefore, it can be said that the single market remains a beautiful idea, but imperfectly implemented. Europe has built a sophisticated legal framework, but not a system capable of operating at the speed required by the global economy of the 21st century.

The cited source also states that the European Union is currently facing a harsh reality: it has an incompletely integrated internal market, a fragmented digital infrastructure and an excessive dependence on SMEs that fail to reach the global scale of American or Asian competitors. Around 99% of European companies are small or medium-sized, and too few manage to expand across borders. The telecommunications sector, for example, remains divided into 27 national markets, clear evidence that internal fragmentation prevents the formation of European industrial champions. At the same time, the economic rise of China and India, the explosive advance of artificial intelligence and the urgent need for a transition to green energy are putting enormous pressure on Europe, caught between a bureaucratic past and a digital future. A recent report by the Bruegel think tank confirms what companies have been feeling for years: the European single market suffers from chronic compliance and implementation deficits. Although the Union is constantly adopting new rules, Member States are delaying their implementation, and over the past 15 years there has been no significant progress in reducing the "transposition deficit" - that is, the delays in transposing European rules into national legislation. Moreover, the "compliance deficit", which measures the incorrect application of these rules, has worsened. The number of cases of infringement of single market rules remains high, and the European Court of Auditors, together with Enrico Letta, is proposing firm solutions: stricter monitoring, mandatory criteria for investigations and dissuasive sanctions against states that block progress on integration. The legislative problems are no less serious. Although there is a reasonable degree of harmonisation, many differences persist between countries, especially in sensitive areas. Consumer protection, for example, remains a patchwork of 27 distinct regimes, and companies face additional costs and legal uncertainties. In matters of labour law and taxation, issues considered the quintessence of national sovereignty, full harmonisation it still seems like a distant dream.

The cited source mentions that, in view of the above situation, the European Commission has begun to react. Through the "Single Market Report” and the "Single Market Strategy 2025”, Brussels proposes a series of reforms aimed at bringing the single market back to the center of European growth. The plans include eliminating the most harmful barriers to the movement of goods and services, reducing bureaucracy for SMEs and adopting a "Construction Service Act” to modernize a sector still stuck in outdated regulations. These measures should complement the initiatives in telecommunications and create a real basis for a modern, efficient and adaptable economic integration.

But geopolitical reality is unforgiving. In a world affected by armed conflicts, uncertainty generated by Washington and fierce economic competition, Europe can no longer afford a single market that operates only at half its real potential. Therefore, the cited source states that it is time for the Union to overcome the illusion that a structure conceived in 1993 can respond to the challenges of 2025 without a profound reform. To this end, the European single market should be rethought, renewed and resized for a digital, green and multipolar era, to once again become an engine of innovation and global competitiveness, instead of a tired institution, prisoner of its own rules.