Det Europæiske Råd den 21.-23. marts 2019 - Bilag 5: Fællesbrev til DER-formanden om fremtidens indre marked

Europaudvalget 2018-19 (1. samling)
Det Europæiske Råd 21-22/3-19 Bilag 5
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26 February 2019

Mr Donald Tusk

President of the European Council

Preparing the March European Council

The future development of the Single Market and European digital policy in view of preparation for the next

Strategic Agenda

Dear Donald,

In the coming months we will set the direction for the Union’s

coming

years. Our main target should be a more forward-

looking, productive, fair and globally competitive Union. Every effort is needed to strengthen the slight growth path the EU

is reaching.

After 25 years of its creation, the Single Market has been the key driver of the

Union’s

global competitiveness. Together

with an ambitious, open and rules-based trade policy, the results are clear with robust growth, more jobs and a higher

welfare. The Single Market must remain a source of growth and opportunities for citizens and businesses, by strengthening

the four freedoms, embracing new developments and challenges and fostering innovation, including a social dimension.

Policy-making needs to focus on the facts and needs and better enforcement so that the Single Market delivers for

businesses, consumers, workers and citizens.

In line with the December European Council Conclusions, the EU Single Market priorities for the next five years should

include the following building blocks:



Strengthening the coherence with all related policies.

The EU should reflect on how to better link Single

Market policies with other policies to foster sustainable growth including economic, environmental as well as

social sustainability. Continued deepening of the Single Market requires a holistic approach to policy-making

where Single Market, digitalisation and industrial policy are tightly interlinked. This implies managing successful

transition towards a digitally-driven and sustainable European economy and an offensive industrial policy to

innovate and remain globally competitive in key technologies and strategic value chains. To tackle the challenge

of shortage of skilled workforce, a future-oriented strategy for continuous learning should be formulated and

remaining barriers from labour and learning mobility removed.

Embracing the digital transformation.

All the EU policies should be fit for the digital era. A technology-neutral

digital infrastructure policy and an innovation friendly regulatory environment are necessary in order to encourage

companies to develop and deploy cutting-edge technologies, innovations and new business models. The EU

needs to promote international standards and create conditions where the European companies, especially SMEs

and startups, and industries can succeed on the global market, benefit from their investments in and scale up

their activities. The EU should become a globally significant actor in artificial intelligence and set global standards

in ethics. The impacts of the digitalisation to working life and education must also be addressed and digital

inclusion promoted.



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

The rise of the service economy.

The focus should be towards mainstreaming and strengthening services,

especially digital services and data economy as an integral part of the Single Market. Enhancing the sectors most

relevant to the economy is needed. As industry value chains are highly dependent on services, it is necessary to

remove remaining cross-border obstacles as well as to prevent any new barriers and risk of fragmentation in this

regard. This requires a thorough sector-by-sector analysis. On this basis, a proper implementation and

enforcement of the Services Directive as well as mutual recognition of professional qualifications should be

guaranteed. Member States should also commit to improving their performance in reducing service

restrictiveness.

The rise of the data economy.

The EU should aim at a sustainable, competitive, secure and human-driven data

economy. This implies availability and use of data, empowering citizens to use their rights, and respecting privacy.

New EU initiatives concerning data should promote open data interfaces and interoperability. The EU should

provide frameworks and standards to ensure coherent, secure and efficient data sharing across the EU. Access

to data on fair, reasonable and non-discriminating terms should be promoted. The practices of human-centred

and ethical data management should be further strengthened. The EU should foster the principle of free flow of

data also in relations with our trade partners.

Transition to a greener economy.

The EU should focus on finding solutions that enable the EU to meet its

climate and energy targets cost-efficiently, enhance energy security and further strengthen the Energy Union,

while ensuring and improving the competitiveness of the European industry. Advanced sustainable policies are

needed to drive the development and implementation of new technological and innovative solutions that create

sustainable growth, and give European companies a global competitive advantage. The shift to low carbon

economy requires policies that enable action across sectoral boundaries.

Efficient implementation and enforcement at all levels.

Coherent and effective application of the acquis needs

to be ensured by a strong commitment on all political levels. We encourage a new Commission to strengthen the

focus on implementation and enforcement, including at the highest political level. At the EU and national level,

more attention should be paid to the unified implementation, application and enforcement. Businesses should be

provided sufficient information of the rules they need to comply with when conducting business across borders.

A long-term action plan for better implementation and enforcement is needed to make current rules work in

practice.

Strengthening European capital markets.

Developing open and globally competitive European capital markets

advances European businesses’ access to financing other than from traditional banking and allows to better

match investments needs and savings. Extending and incentivizing cross-border private risk sharing and risk

diversification across Member States will also make the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) more robust. To

ensure additional reduction of barriers to capital flows the

EU’s

Capital Markets Union need to be further

developed.



We are committed to working towards these shared priorities. Together we can ensure that the Single Market provides a

solid underpinning for an outward-looking, confident and more autonomous European Union in a challenging global

environment.

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Yours sincerely,

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium

Charles Michel

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark

Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Taoiseach of Ireland

Leo Varadkar

Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia

Krišjānis Kariņš

Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Xavier Bettel

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Mark Rutte

Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic

António Costa

Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic

Peter Pellegrini

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden

Stefan Löfven

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Andrej Babiš

Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia

Jüri Ratas

Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia

Andrej Plenković

President of the Republic of Lithuania

Dalia Grybauskaitė

Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta

Joseph Muscat

Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland

Mateusz Morawiecki

Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia

Marjan Šarec

Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland

Juha Sipilä

Copied to

Mr Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament

Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission