Working towards a single circular economy

The protection of the Single Market principles is close to the heart of EUROPEN and actions to defend these principles have animated the year 2021. Uneven and diverging implementation of EU laws at national level hamper the free movement of goods, investments in innovations necessary to the EU circular economy, and threaten the achievement of the European Green Deal’s objectives. EUROPEN’s efforts to advocate for the safeguard of the Single Market is gaining more and more importance considering the current proliferation of national diverging initiatives, such as country-specific labelling obligations and unilateral national targets. These measures are concerning and this problem will continue to escalate in the absence of strong action to prevent Single Market distortions.

WHAT DID YOU MISS?

To open the dialogue on this issue and explore ways to protect the Single Market for goods, EUROPEN organised a webinar on 14 October on the “EU Single Market: the key to unlock the Green Deal”, hosted by MEP Maria Spyraki. Speakers included MEP Spyraki, Maja Desgrées du Loû (DG ENV – Unit B3), FESI’s Secretary General Jérôme Pero and EUROPEN’s Managing Director Francesca Stevens. The panel exchanged on how to properly address trade barriers, establish proper enforcement of the rules at EU level, and ensure effective cooperation between all institutional actors to make the Single Market fit for the green transition.

The main takeaway from the webinar? “We do not need 27 mini markets, we do not need 27 circular economies. We need a single circular economy.” (Francesca Stevens, EUROPEN).

If you have missed our webinar, no worries, you can watch the full recording here! Read the Parliament Magazine’s coverage of the webinar here.