MEPs back Scicluna’s single market report

The ECON committee, on which Prof Scicluna sits as Vice-Chair, on Friday endorsed his opinion on "The 20 main concerns of European citizens and businesses with the functioning of the Single Market".

In a statement issued on Saturday, Sciculuna welcomed the vote, saying that "the creation of the single market for nearly 500 million citizens was one of the biggest achievements of the EU" and "has helped drive economic growth and made it easier for our companies to do business and for people to live and work in other European countries. Countries neighbouring the EU still want to gain access to it."

However, he added, "there are a number of areas where citizens and small businesses raised a number of concerns. There are still problems around double taxation, and some EU laws inflict a heavy burden on small businesses."

Scicluna added that "this is why I want to improve business access to micro-finance and venture capital and for us to take steps to reduce excessive regulatory costs."

He stressed that "in this time of economic uncertainty we need to make sure that the single market is fit for purpose and tailored towards the needs of the small businesses which are the lifeblood of our economy."

Prof Scicluna's opinion focused on simplifying procedures for reclaiming VAT, making use of basic banking services, retiring abroad and reducing tax barriers for businesses and citizens. It also called on the European Commission to apply a 'think small first' principle when drafting legislation to assess the likely impact on small businesses.