On 10 July, the Irish Presidency convened an informal Competitiveness Council in Dublin focused on delivering the One Europe, One Market roadmap. On the sidelines, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Anthony Gooch Gálvez, Secretary General of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT), before he joined ministers for a working lunch.
We share a deep conviction: completing the Single Market is Europe’s most powerful competitiveness tool, and it requires no new spending—just the political will to deliver. In our conversation we explore what Single Market barriers mean in practice, what the Irish Presidency can do about them, and why time is of the essence.
We were pleased that the Competitiveness Council echoed many of the priorities we explore below and committed to moving from debate to delivery on the One Europe, One Market roadmap. Ireland’s commitment to leading that effort was particularly well-captured by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke, reminding his EU counterparts that when it comes to the single market “the prize is much bigger than our individual differences.”
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Q&A
This curated Q&A highlights key points from Lucy’s and Anthony’s recorded conversation on the sidelines of the informal Competitiveness Council. Responses have been edited for brevity and context.
The EU’s Single Market was launched in 1992. Why is completing it still an urgent task?
Anthony: Seventeen CEOs founded the ERT in 1983 with a dream: one market for Europe. Today we are 60 companies, €3 trillion in revenue, 6 million direct jobs. Our primary goal has not changed—complete the Single Market and make Europe competitive. The difference now is the context. Global competition is intense, energy costs are far higher, and Mario Draghi has updated his annual investment-gap figure to €1.2 trillion. We cannot afford fragmentation anymore.
Lucy: When the Single Market works, it is fantastic—450 million consumers, one rulebook. But when we talk to the small businesses selling on Amazon, they tell us: “Yes, we sell across borders, but it does not feel like a market.” One Irish company I spoke with—EarthChimp, here in Dublin, making vegan protein powder—said they still plan each EU member state as a separate country. Something is wrong if our entrepreneurs think that way. The SMEs on our platform delivered €40 billion in EU sales last year, with 70 percent engaging in cross-border trade. We want that number to go up, not down.
What does Single Market fragmentation actually cost a business?
Anthony: We compiled a compendium of more than 100 barriers across goods and services. The picture is a Swiss cheese: we have a theory, and then we have a practice. National labelling requirements have turned one Europe into 27 versions. In the medical field, a German patient can access a new medicine in 150 days; in Portugal, it is 850. These are fundamental issues.
Lucy: We asked one of our German sellers—an electronics and home-lighting company selling in three EU countries—to quantify the cost. Quick as lightning they said: “€80,000, 16 different registrations, and up to 16 weeks in permitting delays.” That is a real brake on growth, and it hits SMEs disproportionately hard.
What can the Irish Presidency and the European Commission deliver right now?
Anthony: We have a magnetic pull to re-nationalise rules agreed at EU level, which fragments the Single Market. We need zero tolerance for that now. The Commission must be the policeman. And at some point, EU heads of state need a big-bang moment to deliver coordinated commitments to remove obstacles, such as gold-plating.
Lucy: There are immediate opportunities. The upcoming European Product Act and its digital product passport can harmonise product safety and compliance reporting—imagine SMEs no longer producing physical labels in 24 languages. The Irish Presidency can also accelerate work on the EU grids package, and the Commission can hold member states to the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation so we get a genuine Single Market for charging infrastructure.
The Irish Presidency’s motto is “Ní neart go cur le Chéile” — strength with unity. What does that demand of member states?
Anthony: The motto could not be better. Every member state must answer one question: not what can Europe do for me, but what can I do for Europe? What gold-plating do I remove? What am I holding up? A team will always beat a bunch of individuals. We have to stop being a bunch of individuals and be a team.
Lucy: Unity is something that all member states and EU institutions are very focused on, and the Irish Presidency is right to lean into that. One way to deliver is by simplification that scales. The digital product passport is a good example: one measure that, if scaled properly, makes a meaningful difference across 27 markets. At the macro level, what businesses need is a regulatory and enforcement environment that is predictable and sensible—and that applies for digital rules, too.
What is the ultimate prize?
Anthony: Where are the next ERT members going to come from? The youngest company in our group is 42 years old. The biggest companies in the United States? None are anywhere near 40. We need to build and scale those companies in Europe so that today’s SMEs become tomorrow’s ERT members. That should be the ambition.
Lucy: Amazon has invested more than €270 billion in the EU since 2010, and we continue to invest. When you match a functioning Single Market with regulatory predictability, investment follows. That will support SMEs, deliver growth through decarbonization, and plug the investment gap highlighted by Draghi.
