The European Parliament adopted by 520 votes to 125 with 33 abstentions a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Programme for single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and European statistics and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014, (EU) No 258/2014, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) 2017/826.
The position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amended the Commission proposal as follows:
Objectives of the programme
The proposed regulation would establish the Single Market Programme (2021-2027) aimed at strengthening the internal market and improving its functioning in the areas of competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises, in particular micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, standardisation, consumer protection, market surveillance, the food chain and the framework for financing the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
Budget
Parliament considered the total financial package proposed by the Commission insufficient to meet all the challenges of the single market and, in particular, to adapt to the rapidly changing digital revolution and globalisation.
Consequently, it proposed that the financial framework for the implementation of the programme for the period 2021 to 2027 should be set at EUR 6 563 000 000 000 at current prices (compared with EUR 4 088 580 000 at current prices proposed by the European Commission).
Market surveillance, SMEs, consumers, digital developments
In particular, the programme should:
- support effective market surveillance and product safety throughout the Union and contribute to the fight against counterfeiting with a view to ensuring that only safe and compliant products are placed on the Union market, including products sold online, and to greater homogeneity and capacity of market surveillance authorities throughout the Union;
- improve the competitiveness of EU SMEs on the world market and create the conditions for introducing technological and organisational innovation into production processes, with particular attention to specific forms of SMEs such as microenterprises (including those in the tourism sector), craft enterprises, the self-employed, the liberal professions and social economy enterprises;
- support increased participation of SME representative organisations in the development of single market policy initiatives such as public procurement, standardisation processes and intellectual property regimes;
- support concrete actions, such as emergency measures in the event of crises and unforeseeable events affecting animal and plant health and the establishment of a mechanism for direct access to the Union's emergency aid reserve to respond more quickly and effectively to emergency situations;
- develop, produce and disseminate high-quality, comparable and reliable European statistics that support the design, monitoring and evaluation of all EU policies, including on trade and migration.
Parliament also suggested:
- including references to specific actions to strengthen consumer protection, empower consumers and promote their interests, paying particular attention to the new challenges and opportunities brought about by digitisation;
- adding references to digital developments in all areas covered by the programme.
Evaluation and publicity
In the interests of transparency and visibility, the Commission should undertake information and communication actions to make consumers, businesses, in particular SMEs, and public administrations aware of the possibilities offered by the programme.
The SME component of the InvestEU Fund should include the establishment of a central window to provide information on the programme in each Member State, in order to improve the accessibility of the funds and information about them for SMEs.
Members proposed a mandatory final evaluation of the programme by 2030, focusing on the long-term impact of the programme, the sustainability of actions and the synergies achieved between the different work programmes.