Developments in the internal market during Malta’s presidency

Abstract

The single market, referred to in the EU treaties after the Maastricht amendments as the “Internal Market”, is one of Europe’s major achievements encompassing the so called four freedoms. It is an engine for building a stronger and fairer EU economy among the peoples of Europe. By allowing people, goods, services and capital to move more freely it opens up new opportunities for citizens, workers, businesses and consumers. This leads to the creation of jobs and growth in Europe which the EU urgently needs. The more integrated and deeper capital markets are the more they can channel more funding to companies, especially SMEs, and infrastructure projects. Better worker mobility allows people to move more freely where their skills are needed further contributing to the concept of a peoples’ Europe. Combatting tax evasion and tax fraud ensures that all contribute their fair share of tax to the EU’s coffers. This paper seeks to highlight the main achievements towards the evolution of the EU Internal Market during 2017 and in particular during the six months of Malta’s presidency of the EU Council of Ministers between January 2017 and June 2017. The evolution of legislation that happens during a six-month presidency is not necessarily due to the direct input of the presidency itself, and hence the achievements or the lack of them as discussed below, should not be considered as a judgement on the presidency itself. The aim of this paper is simply to discuss what has happened in the mentioned period rather than argue from a legal point of view the successes or failures of the rotating presidency in question. This paper also focuses on some of the main areas of the Internal Market and does not seek to provide a comprehensive overview of all the developments that have occurred. [excerpt]