On 30 September 2025, just one day before the gathering of EU Ministers for Competitiveness, leaders from European institutions, governments, and industry met at the European Parliament to take stock of the Single Market. The business community was very active in this crucial debate, as the Single Market lies at the heart of Europe’s competitiveness, resilience, and capacity to lead in the digital age.
The event gathered representatives from the Danish Presidency of the Council. The discussion was further enriched by the contributions of BusinessEurope, DigitalEurope, Eurochambres, EuroCommerce, SME United, and the European Round Table for Industry (ERT), alongside voices from across the private sector.
The urgency of completing the Single Market
All participants converged on a central message: the Single Market remains the European Union’s greatest unfinished project. Despite its achievements, persistent barriers continue to hinder cross-border operations, limit the scaling of businesses, and weaken Europe’s attractiveness for investment.
Private sector representatives, building on their joint statement “Strategy for making the Single Market simple, seamless and strong”, issued a clear set of recommendations:
- Prioritise to improve cross-border business operations and maintaining the pressure to remove barriers, especially for SMEs.
- Simplify EU regulations to reduce unnecessary burdens and bureaucracy. This should be based on a long-term commitment and achieved by removing overlaps and inconsistencies in the EU acquis.
- Set long-term goals, milestones, and metrics to ensure accountability and progress. The Single Market Roadmap to 2028, announced by President von der Leyen, should be ambitious and clear to guide future reforms.
- Strengthen enforcement by giving the Commission the resources and coordination tools to act as the true “enforcer” of Single Market rules, not only in goods and services but across all dimensions of integration.
- Link EU spending to national reforms that eliminate Single Market barriers.
- Ensure any future legislation guarantees the freedom to trade and invest across borders.
In her concluding remarks, Kerstin Jorna, Director-General of DG Grow, stressed the importance of getting priorities right, focusing on barrier removal and regulatory simplification guided by meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs)—an approach aligned with the recent reports by Enrico Letta (on the Single Market) and Mario Draghi (on competitiveness). Above all, she underlined the importance of giving companies the freedom to invest and scale in Europe.
Telefónica’s perspective: a Single Market fit for the digital age
For Telefónica, the Single Market is Europe’s main lever to secure digital leadership, competitiveness, and sustainable growth. Yet today, fragmentation continues to hold Europe back, especially in strategic areas such as connectivity, cloud, artificial intelligence, and data flows.
From Telefónica’s perspective, the Single Market must evolve to reflect the realities of a digital economy. Our vision for telecoms is built on three pragmatic pillars for deepening the Single Market: consolidation for scale, simplification over harmonisation, and technological convergence.
The road ahead: aligning political will and private sector leadership
The Single Market is Europe’s powerhouse but without urgent action it risks remaining incomplete, limiting Europe’s full potential to compete globally.
The context is stark: Europe is experiencing slow growth, high energy costs, and unprecedented technological disruption. To remain competitive, the EU must urgently move from debate to implementation, ensuring that its policies create real opportunities for companies and citizens.
The debate at the European Parliament on 30 September 2025 was a timely reminder that completing the Single Market is not an option, it is a necessity. The private sector, institutions, and governments are aligned on the urgency of this task. What is needed now is decisive political action.
Telefónica welcomes the emphasis on measurable goals, enforcement, and simplification, all of which are indispensable for creating a predictable and cross-border growth-friendly environment.
With the Danish, Cypriot, and Irish Presidencies of the Council, there is a unique opportunity to build continuity and momentum around completing the Single Market. Industry stands ready to contribute with concrete proposals and investment commitments. But political will and leadership are essential.
