Single Market Programme: Provisional political agreement reached on the first multiannual financial programme to boost the Single Market
The Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement reached yesterday evening by the European Parliament and the EU Member States on the Single Market Programme proposed by the Commission in June 2018. The agreement is now subject to formal confirmation by the Council and the European Parliament. For the first time ever, the European budget will include financial support (€4.208 billion) exclusively addressed to the EU Single Market. Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “I would like to thank the German Presidency and the European Parliament for their continuous support in bringing these important negotiations on the Single Market Programme to a successful end. A more integrated and competitive Single Market has never been more important as it is our ultimate engine for economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic. The Single Market Programme will substantially contribute to delivering a strong Single Market on the ground.” The Single Market Programme will support the implementation and enforcement of Union legislation in the area of internal market for goods and services, market surveillance, standardisation, competition policy and financial services. The programme is also meant to provide advisory services to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), in particular through the European Enterprise Network. Equally, the Single Market Programme will finance activities relating to consumer protection and empowerment of financial end-users. Moreover, the programme will focus on the protection of safe and sustainable food supply chain, which is necessary in order to allow the Single Market to operate efficiently. Finally, the programme will finance provision of high-quality European statistics on all the Union policies. Subject to formal confirmation by the Council and the European Parliament on this provisional political agreement, the final text of the programme should be adopted by the Council and European Parliament at the beginning of 2021. A factsheet on the Commission’s proposal on the Single Market Programme is available here.