During the Committee of the Regions' 140th Plenary session, the members adopted the opinion on Single Market Barriers Report and Single Market Enforcement Action Plan by Mr Tadeusz Truskolaski, Mayor of Białystok and the EA Coordinator for the ECON Commission. 

In his presentation, Mr Truskolaski emphasised that the European single market is one of the EU's greatest achievements, guaranteeing free movement of people, goods, services and capital throughout the Union and that policy on the EU Single Market plays a key role in carrying out the strategy for sustainable growth and greater economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU. 

"The creation of a European single market stimulates trade and makes Europe more attractive for foreign investment. The European single market provides EUR 14 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) annually, which ensures the functioning of the European economy and growth for Europeans," Mr Truskolaski added.

As the previous rapporteur on small and medium-sized entreprises, Mr Truskolaski agrees with the European Commission that regulatory differences are particularly important for SMEs, including start-ups and scale-ups, innovators and promoters of new business models and that they in particular have limited administrative and human resource capacities to be able to cope with complex red tape. 

"A major barrier to cross-border cooperation in the Single Market is the A1 certificate, for which time-consuming formalities need to be completed when workers are posted, even for regular postings in a neighbouring country. These formalities could consequently considerably reduce cross-border activities and thus significantly hamper the functioning of the single market. In this regard, I call on the Commission to be proactive and, together with the EU legislators, ensure that the existing procedures for A1 certification in border regions are simplified", Mr Truskolaski concluded.
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