The European Commission announced this Monday the creation of a single market emergency instrument to safeguard the free movement of goods, services and people and the availability of goods in crisis, after the problems registered in the pandemic.
In a statement, the community executive announces the creation of this instrument for the emergence of the single market, explaining that a new “crisis governance framework is at stake to preserve the free movement of goods, services and people and the availability of goods and essential services”. services in case of future emergencies, for the benefit of citizens and businesses” of the European Union (EU).
“While the single market has proven to be the Union’s best asset in crisis management, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the structural weaknesses that impede the EU’s ability to respond effectively to emergencies in a coordinated manner. “, since” unilateral measures have caused fragmentation, aggravating the crisis and especially affecting small and medium-sized companies, “admits Brussels.
It is this scenario that the institution wants to avoid in future extreme situations, so an instrument that complements other EU legislative measures for crisis management such as the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, as well as community regulations for specific sectors, supply chains or products such as healthcare, semiconductors or food safety, stipulating specific crisis response measures.
This new mechanism then establishes a crisis management framework to identify different threats to the single market and guarantee its proper functioning, creating a framework that allows contingency responses, surveillance and emergency modes, contemplating new actions to address said problems and enabling last resort in case of urgency, according to the community executive.
The executive vice president of the European Commission with the Competition portfolio, Margrethe Vestager, explained at the press conference to present this instrument, in Brussels, that “there may be a situation in which companies are asked to give priority to their orders”.
“If the company cannot comply, it can explain why it cannot comply, […] but if you say you’re going to deliver and if those expectations are not met, you can be fined for not delivering on what you promised to do,” added Margrethe Vestager.
The proposal will now be debated by the co-legislators, the Parliament and the Council of the EU, and the regulation in question may enter into force once approved and 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. .
Source: TSF
