Chamber reaction to Competitiveness Council

Ahead of the European Council of December and in the aftermath of the publication of the Commission’s Communication “The Single Market in a changing world - A unique asset in need of renewed political commitment”, the Ministers today discussed the future of the Single Market. This discussion is timely and highly necessary in a time of growing protectionism, globally and within the borders of the European Union.

With the end of the Juncker Commission in sight, the European Commission calculated that 44 out of its 67 legislative proposals related to the Single Market that have been made in the past 4 years have not reached an interinstitutional agreement or will never do. Although the reasons can vary as to the reasons why no agreement has been struck on a particular file, there is one underlying common denominator: a growing tendency against increased integration, especially from the larger EU countries such as France and Germany.

In this respect, EUROCHAMBRES President, Christoph Leitl, asked in a letter to the Ministers attending the Competitiveness Council (COMPET) to renew their commitment to the Single Market. He launched a call to every Member State to “renew its vows to the further development of the Single Market by supporting efforts to dynamize cross-border activities in the services sector; by implementing European law in a timely and correct way in order to avoid any EU law infringement procedures while respecting the Commission’s competence in this domain; by (re)embracing key principles such as mutual recognition and the country of origin principle; by also embracing new principles such as “only once”.”

Adoption of general approach on Platform proposal

The proposed Platform-to-Business Regulation will provide a better balance between platforms and its business users, especially when it comes to delisting, priority ranking for offers of the platform owner or their “privileged partners”. Many of the EUROCHAMBRES key demands, such as a sufficient period of notice in case of termination of the contract by the platform or an exemption from the compulsory out-of-court meditation obligations for SME platforms are well reflected in the general approach of the Council.
“We welcome this proposal as a cornerstone of the future architecture of the Single Market. This proposal shows that Europe is capable of adopting a fair legal environment apt for the challenges of digitalisation and the platform economy!” said EUROCHAMBRES President, Christoph Leitl.