One European Digital single market or 27 different ones?

Digital Europe, a non-profit association (from 41 national trade association across Europe as well as 102 corporations), released a manifesto offering 20 solutions to position Europe as a global leader in advanced technologies like AI and cyber, while boosting its digital resilience and ensuring that everyone benefits from the digital transformation. One of the main ideas advocated by the document is the positive economic effects that further European integration would have, removing barriers in goods and services, and implementing a truly single market in Europe, which could add €713 billion of growth by 2029.

Key highligths:

• European digital resilience: The positive role of digital technologies during the COVID crisis highlights that mitigating future crises will require strong and successful digital companies with close collaboration between the public and private sectors and a close collaboration between public and private sector. 
  
  
• Lack of European tech companies among global digital leaders an lack of a real European Single Market: According to the report:
  
  
  • Only 10 out of the top 100 tech companies are European. The number of SMEs selling across at least one European border has flatlined at around 8% since 2019.
    
    
  • Further integration of the European single market should be a priority for the European Project, also in the digital field: one market, one set of digital rules, the report advocates, for a single European approach to regulation and implementation, not 27 different ones, in order to make compliance as easy as possible. Removing Single Market barriers in goods and services could amount to €713 billion of growth by 2029.
    
    
• Measures recommended to be a Digital Powerhouse by 2030: up to 20 granular measures to make Europe the best place in the world to do business leading on innovation in an inclusive and secure digital democracy. For instance:
  
  
  • To roll out a 25% digital target across all EU and NATO funding programmes building on the success of the target COVID recovery funds simplifying procurement processes.
    
    
  • To take a regulatory pause on EU data rules to make sure the current rules work and iron out overlaps, adjusting where necessary.
    
    
  • To make compulsory regulatory sandboxing with companies before the legislation comes into force.