The Czech Republic and nine other EU Member States expressed their common opinion on the necessity of an open and modern EU Internal Market in an article published on 9 April 2011, four days before the European Commission is scheduled to issue the final version of the so-called Single Market Act.

The bloc of ten countries includes the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden (on whose initiative the article was written) and the United Kingdom. In the article published by the European Voice, a prestigious newspaper focused on EU affairs, the ministers reject protectionism and isolation of the EU from the rest of the world and stress the fact that growth and competitiveness are necessary for the creation of more jobs and increasing the opportunities in the EU. The article is supposed to send a strong signal to the European Commission that those criteria must be taken into account in the final version of the Single Market Act, a set of twelve priority actions that will shape the future of the EU Internal Market.

The Czech priorities for the Single Market Act are development and dismantling of barriers in the areas of digital single market, services sector, intellectual property rights and small and medium enterprises. The Czech Republic is, however, cautious about new measures in areas of taxation and social policy at EU level.

The Commission will issue the Single Market Act on 13 April 2011.

More information:

• Article “Potential for success” – European Voice, 9 April 2011

_{Photo: Office of the Government of the Czech Republic}