The small internal market of the EU | Economy | EUROtoday

The surprising entry of the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) into Telefónica has shaken the financial world and many voters. The concern is justified. Telefónica is a strategic firm that manages delicate information and knowledge and the purchaser of 9.9% of the Spanish agency isn’t just any investor. STC belongs 64% to the Saudi State, an autocratic regime at the antipodes of the capitalism mannequin that acknowledges fundamental rights that the European Union is making an attempt to construct.

This 12 months marks exactly 30 years of the internal market, which was the new title of the unique widespread market. The internal market promoted by Jacques Delors, which had the help of the influential Table Ronde group of the 40 largest European industrialists, has constructed an financial system that mixes competitors and respect for the regulation. According to the Research Service of the European Parliament, the potential advantages of the elimination of obstacles for items and companies that the internal market has led to rise to 713 billion euros till 2029.

However, in lots of areas, equivalent to finance and telecommunications, the internal market could be very removed from being a actuality. Numerous nationwide markets and their corresponding regulators stay in the EU. In the United States, there are three giant cellular phone operators, whereas in the EU, there are about 80. The social achievements which have been restricted by the EU Court of Justice have additionally not been passable. The CJEU rulings in the Viking and Laval instances (2007) privileged the proper to freedom of enterprise over staff’ union rights.

Despite the deficiencies of the internal market, the biggest problem now comes from the rising weight of the international market and gigantic multinational companies. Most of the 100 largest world companies are based mostly in the US and solely 18 are in the EU. The European internal market has turn into small. For a decade now, Europe has been making an attempt to reply to this problem with the so-called Open Strategic Autonomy (AEA). Its targets, which have developed from safety to power and the economic system on the whole, are to advertise the Union’s affect on the worldwide stage by defending its pursuits and values.

An attention-grabbing doc from Telefónica itself on the AEA factors out that “the lack of leadership and scale of Europe’s technology companies translates into an ever-growing European technological and connectivity gap with respect to other regions such as the United States and China.” And he acknowledges that “the sector faces a contradictory panorama with a very difficult equation between investment, regulation and competition policy.” To survive, it’s pressing for the Union to lift its sights and adapt its challenge to the world geopolitical actuality. Despite severe failures, the Union continues to be the world reference for civil and social rights and a hope for individuals who aspire to freedom.

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