ISSUE: 3/2023
- Volume 27
- Number 3
- 2023
Subscribe NEWSLETTER
Studia Europejskie –
Studies in European Affairs
ISSN: 1428-149X
e-ISSN: 2719-3780
License
Articles published in the journal are under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International License
Integration of the European Single Market Thirty Years After Its Creation
Abstract
The European single market was launched on 1 st January 1993. Presumably, it is at that time that three fundamental barriers (physical control at the border, various technical requirements, and differing systems of indirect taxation) were formally removed to ensure four treaty-based freedoms: free movement of goods, freedom to provide services, free movement of people and free movement of capital. The EU single market is characteristic in nature due to the scope of legislation governing businesses and consumers, which is largely subject not to unification, rather only harmonisation. Regrettably, this has resulted in EU legislation being (deliberately at times) not always correctly implemented into the national legal system. This leads to market fragmentation and creates barriers, rather than eliminating them. This study aims to identify the relationship between full and correct implementation of EU legislation into the Member States’ legal systems versus progress in European single market integration. Therefore, the evolution of indicators defining how much EU single market legislation in the Member States has been implemented was examined. At the same time, changes in transposition deficit (from 1997 to 2021) and conformity deficit (from 2004 to 2021) for particular Member States were critically analysed. Further, it was analysed how much the single market was integrated from the perspective of goods being the main components of the single European market. To this end, intra-EU trade was analysed as broken down into exports and imports of goods, versus the global trade of individual Member States (including trade with non-EU partners). The outcome of the study shows that both transposition and conformity deficit levels are quite high. In turn, intra-EU trade in goods does not largely correspond to the extent of implementation of EU legislation, which may be caused by growing interest in non-EU partners without compromising EU presence.
References
Ambroziak, A.A. (2012) “Bilans dwudziestolecia istnienia rynku wewnętrznego Unii Europejskiej – aspekty wdrażania legislacji unijnej”, Studia Europejskie. Vol. 64(4), pp. 51–78.
Ambroziak, A.A. (2013) “Handlowe skutki ewolucji prawa swobodnego przepływu towarów. Bilans dwudziestolecia istnienia rynku wewnętrznego UE”, Studia Europejskie. Vol. 65(1), pp. 75–100.
Ambroziak, A.A. (2021) “Does the European Single Market Exist in the Era of a Coronavirus Pandemic? The Case of Intra and Extra-EU Trade in COVID-19-related Products”, Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs. Vol. 25(1), pp. 63–83. DOI: 10.33067/SE.1.2021.3.
Ambroziak, A.A. (2022) Poland’s State Aid Policy During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Ambroziak, A.A. (ed.) Poland in the European Union. Report 2022. Warsaw: SGH Publishing House, pp. 39–78.
Berglund, S., Gange, I. and van Waarden, F. (2006) “Mass production of law. Routinization in the transposition of European directives: a sociological-institutional account”, Journal of European Public Policy. Vol. 13, pp. 692–716. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760600808550.
Borghetto, E., Franchino, F. and Giannetti, D. (2006) “Complying with the transposition deadlines of EU directives: evidence from Italy”, Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche. Vol. 5, pp. 7–38.
De Coninck, I. (2015) Transposition of European legislation: Flemish and Scottish performance, Working Paper No 1. Available at: https://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/fi le/paper/1434093631.pdf (Access 1.05.2023).
EC (1997a) Draft Action Plan for the Single Market, COM(97) 184 final, Brussels, 6.05.1997.
EC (1997b) Single Market Scorebord, No 1, November 1997, Brussels.
EC (1998) Single Market Scorebord, No 2, May 1998, Brussels.
EC (2000) Single Market Scorebord, No 7, November 2000, Brussels.
EC (2001) Single Market Scorebord, No 9, November 2001, Brussels.
EC (2004) Single Market Scorebord, No 13, July 2004, Brussels.
EC (2005) Single Market Scorebord, No 14, July 2005, Brussels.
EC (2011) Single Market Act. Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence. “Working together to create new growth”, COM(2011) 206 final, 13.04.2011, Brussels.
EC (2015) Single Market Scorebord, Performance per governance tool, Reporting period: 5/2014–11/2014. Available at: https://single-market-scoreboard.ec.europa.eu/enforcement-tools/transposition_en (Access 6.05.2023).
EC (2017) Single Market Scorebord, Performance per governance tool, Reporting period: 12/2015–12/2016. Available at: https://single-market-scoreboard.ec.europa.eu/enforcement-tools/transposition_en (Access 6.05.2023).
EC (2023a) Single Market Scorebord, Performance per governance tool. Available at: https://single-market-scoreboard.ec.europa.eu/enforcement-tools/transposition_en (Access 6.05.2023).
EC (2023b) The Single Market at 30, COM(2023)162 final, Brussels.
EUCO (1993) Presidency Conclusions, 21–22 June 1993.
EUCO (1996) Presidency Conclusions, 13–14 December 1996, Dublin.
EUCO (1997) Presidency Conclusions, 17–18 June 1997, Amsterdam.
EUCO (2001) Presidency Conclusions, 23–24 March 2001, Stockholm.
EUCO (2002) Presidency Conclusions, 15–16 March 2002, Barcelona.
EUCO (2003) Presidency Conclusions, 20–21 March 2003, Brussels.
EUCO (2004) Presidency Conclusions, 25–26 March 2004, Brussels.
EUCO (2007) Presidency Conclusions, 8–9 March 2007, Brussels.
EUCO (2023) Conclusions, EUCO 4/23, 23 March 2023.
Howarth, D. (2022) The increasingly differentiated European Single Market? in Leruth, B., Ganzle, S. and Trondal, J. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Differentiation in the European Union. Routledge, pp. 391–407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054136-27.
Haverland, M. and Romeijn, M. (2007). “Do member states make European policies work? Analysing the EU transposition deficit”, Public Administration. Vol. 85(3), pp. 757–778. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2007.00670.x.
Kaeding, M. (2006) “Determinants of transposition delay in the European Union”, Journal of public Policy. Vol. 26(3), pp. 229–253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0143814x06000547.
Kaeding, M. (2008) “Lost in translation or full steam ahead: the transposition of EU transport directives across member states”, European Union Politics. Vol. 9(1), pp. 115–143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116507085959.
Kuczewska, J. and Stefaniak, J. (2022) Implementacja programu rynku wewnętrznego Unii Europejskiej z uwzględnieniem efektów dla przedsiębiorstw in Gorynia, M., Kuczewska, J. and Nowak, A.Z. (eds.) Polskie przedsiębiorstwo na jednolitym rynku europejskim: wyzwania współczesności. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, pp. 25–44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323553489.pp.75-86.
Laursen, K. (1998) Revealed comparative advantage and the alternatives as measures of international specialisation, Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics (DRUID). Working Paper No 98–30. Aalborg: Copenhagen Business School and Department of Business Studies, Aalborg University.
Michelsen, J. (2008) “A Europeanization defi cit? The impact of EU organic agriculture regulations on new member states”, Journal of European Public Policy. Vol. 15(1), pp. 117–134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760701702256.
Moriana, V.F., Vida, A.M. and De Lombaerde, P. (2017) The European Commission Single Market Scoreboard in De Lombaerde, P. and Saucedi Acosta, E.J. (eds.) Indicator-Based Monitoring of Regional Economic Integration: Fourth World Report on Regional Integration, No. 13, pp. 3–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50860-3_1.
Lazar, C. and Lazar, M. (2015) “Perceptions of good governance in Romania through statistical indicators”, Journal of Law and Administrative Science, Vol. 441.
Musiałkowska, I. (2017) “Implementation of European Union law in Poland”, Common Values. December, pp. 179–192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845284774-179.
Pircher, B. and Loxbo, K. (2020) “Compliance with EU Law in Times of Disintegration: Exploring Changes in Transposition and Enforcement in the EU Member States between 1997 and 2016”, Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol. 58(5), pp. 1270–1287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13030.
Ručinská, S. and Fečko, M. (2019) “European Union Internal Market and its barriers: mission accomplished or never ending story?”, Online Journal Modelling the New Europe. Vol. 29, pp. 25–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24193/ojmne.2019.29.02.
Steunenberg, B., and Rhinard, M. (2010) “The transposition of European law in EU member states: Between process and politics”, European Political Science Review. Vol. 2(3), pp. 495–520. DOI: 10.1017/S1755773910000196.
Sverdrup, U. (2004) “Compliance and confl ict management in the European Union: Nordic exceptionalism”, Scandinavian Political Studies. Vol. 27(1), pp. 23–43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9477.2004.00098.x.
Toshkov, D. (2008) “Embracing European law: compliance with EU directives in Central and Eastern Europe”, European Union Politics. Vol. 9(3), pp. 379–402. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116508093490.
DOI: 10.33067/SE.3.2023.4
Language: English
Pages: 63-85
How to Cite:
Harvard
Ambroziak, A. (2023) "Integration of the European Single Market Thirty Years After Its Creation". Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs, 3-2023, pp. 63-85. DOI: 10.33067/SE.3.2023.4