Europe’s plan to finally make its single market work 
欧洲最终实现单一市场运作的计划

When Belgian-based multinational Umicore ships rubbish within the European Union, it has to send through authorisation documents via a fax machine in one EU country and ensure signatures are in blue ink instead of black in another.
当比利时跨国企业优美科在欧盟境内运输废弃物时，必须通过传真机向某个欧盟成员国发送授权文件，并确保在另一个成员国使用蓝色墨水而非黑色墨水签名。

These are just some of the obstacles Umicore faces to get waste shipments from all over the European Union to its giant recycling plant in the city of Antwerp.
这些只是优美科为将欧盟各地废弃物运至安特卫普市巨型回收工厂所面临的部分障碍。

The list of different requirements is so long it resembles a trade route across the Hanseatic League, which peaked in the Middle Ages, rather than one through the world’s largest single market created in 1993.
各类差异化要求的清单如此冗长，更像是穿越中世纪鼎盛时期汉萨同盟的贸易路线，而非 1993 年创建的世界最大单一市场。

Umicore recycles much-desired critical raw materials, for example from old electronics, within the EU. But suppliers are sometimes more inclined to export their waste outside the EU instead of shipping it within the bloc given the bureaucratic challenges, such as dealing with documents in several different languages and managing myriad licence regimes.
优美科公司在欧盟境内回收备受追捧的关键原材料，例如从废旧电子产品中提取。但由于官僚主义障碍（如处理多种语言文件和应对繁杂的许可证制度），供应商往往更倾向于将废料出口到欧盟境外而非在联盟内运输。

“And if we decide because of a logistical challenge to deviate from the initial route, we have to apply again in the different member states,” says Bart Sap, Umicore’s chief executive. 
"如果我们因物流挑战需要偏离初始路线，就必须向不同成员国重新申请，"优美科首席执行官巴特·萨普表示。

The administrative obstacle course that Umicore faces with every shipment is the upshot of the incomplete promises of the EU’s single market.
优美科每批货物运输面临的行政障碍，正是欧盟单一市场承诺未能完全兑现的必然结果。

Bringing together 450mn consumers, the project was meant to allow people, goods, services and capital to move seamlessly across the continent. But more than 30 years later, hundreds of barriers still persist. The inability of EU governments to overcome their own national interests has slowed down the bloc’s push to become more competitive. 
这项旨在整合 4.5 亿消费者的计划，本应实现人员、商品、服务和资本在欧洲大陆的自由流动。但三十多年过去，仍有数百项壁垒未被破除。欧盟各国政府无力超越本国利益，拖慢了提升整体竞争力的步伐。

A series of global crises has sharpened resolve among EU leaders. At stake, they believe, is Europe’s economic survival in an era of trade wars and the struggle for dominance in everything from artificial intelligence to the green transition. The war in Ukraine, deepening instability in the Middle East and Europe’s faltering economy have added to a renewed momentum.
接踵而至的全球危机坚定了欧盟领导层的决心。他们认为，在这个贸易战频发、从人工智能到绿色转型各领域争夺主导权的时代，欧洲经济存亡已岌岌可危。乌克兰战争、中东局势持续动荡以及欧洲经济萎靡不振，都为改革注入了新动力。

“The international trade order is in disarray, the US market is partially closing down,” says a senior EU diplomat. “We need improvements in the single market to compensate for these external factors.” 
国际贸易秩序陷入混乱，美国市场正在部分关闭，"一位欧盟高级外交官表示，"我们必须完善单一市场机制，以抵消这些外部冲击。

On Thursday the EU’s 27 leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss the “challenging international context and our internal economic priorities, such as deepening the single market”, according to a letter sent to them by European Council President António Costa. This follows the unveiling of a new single market strategy by the EU’s industry chief Stéphane Séjourné in May.
周四，欧盟 27 国领导人将在布鲁塞尔举行会议，讨论"充满挑战的国际环境及深化单一市场等内部经济优先事项"，欧洲理事会主席安东尼奥·科斯塔在致领导人的信中如此表示。此前，欧盟产业政策负责人斯特凡纳·塞茹尔内于五月公布了一项新的单一市场战略。

Costa says that the single market is the “cornerstone of European competitiveness and a key geopolitical asset”.
科斯塔表示，单一市场是"欧洲竞争力的基石和关键的地缘政治资产"。

“That’s why we need to be bold in pursuing its further integration and in removing remaining internal barriers,” he tells the FT. 
"因此我们必须大胆推进市场进一步整合，消除残存的内部壁垒，"他向英国《金融时报》表示。

But earlier attempts to unite the bloc have floundered on national sensitivities and the inability to push through the necessary measures in its 27 capitals. Translating the newly found political momentum into the necessary reforms proposed will be the toughest challenge.
但早先推动欧盟一体化的尝试，都因各国敏感议题和在 27 个成员国首都难以推进必要措施而受挫。如何将新近形成的政治势头转化为拟议的必要改革，将成为最严峻的挑战。

Some leading companies have noted that there is less paperwork involved in sending a worker to the US or Taiwan than attempting to move them within the EU.
一些龙头企业指出，将员工外派至美国或台湾地区所需的文书工作，比在欧盟内部调动还要少。

“The time for big speeches is over. We know where to go,” says Danish industry minister Morten Bødskov. Copenhagen will gain greater policy influence in Brussels when it takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. 
丹麦工业部长莫滕·博兹科夫表示："发表宏大演讲的时代已经结束，我们清楚前进方向。"今年 7 月丹麦接任欧盟理事会轮值主席国后，哥本哈根将在布鲁塞尔获得更大的政策影响力。

Bødskov warns that “if we don’t act now, the structural changes happening globally will not favour Europe.”
博兹科夫警告称："如果我们现在不采取行动，全球正在发生的结构性变化将不利于欧洲。"

The aims of the single market date back to the EU’s precursor, the European Economic Community. When it was established in 1957, one of its central goals was to create a common area with free movement of goods, services, capital and people — known as the “four pillars”.
单一市场的构想可追溯至欧盟前身——欧洲经济共同体。1957 年成立时，其核心目标之一就是建立一个商品、服务、资本和人员自由流动的共同区域，即所谓"四大支柱"。

But the single market, which was formally launched in 1993, has been eternally hampered by overriding national interests and fears among member states of handing over too much power to Brussels. Now, the European Commission is trying again.
但 1993 年正式启动的单一市场，始终受制于成员国优先考虑本国利益以及担忧向布鲁塞尔让渡过多权力。如今，欧盟委员会正再次尝试推进改革。

Séjourné’s new single market strategy builds on the reports of former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta. Officials in Brussels joke that the reports are the bibles of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s second term, with barely a speech on industry or the economy going by without an invocation of one or the other. 
塞茹尔内的新单一市场战略借鉴了意大利前总理马里奥·德拉吉和恩里科·莱塔的报告。布鲁塞尔官员戏称，这两份报告堪称欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩第二任期的"圣经"——她几乎每次关于工业或经济的演讲都会援引其中内容。

When Draghi released his report in September last year — ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House — he warned that if the EU did not boost its economic competitiveness, it would face “a slow agony”.
当德拉吉去年 9 月发布报告时（适逢唐纳德·特朗普即将重返白宫），他警告称如果欧盟不提升经济竞争力，将面临"缓慢的消亡"。

Since then the picture has darkened. Brussels has been negotiating with Washington to avoid an all-out trade war while trying to open new markets via trade agreements that attempt to sell the merits of the EU’s single market across the world.
此后形势急转直下。布鲁塞尔方面正与华盛顿展开谈判以避免全面贸易战，同时试图通过贸易协定开拓新市场——这些协定旨在向全球推销欧盟单一市场的优势。

“It’s something we control entirely,” Séjourné says. “Unlike transatlantic trade, we can act on the single market ourselves.”
这是我们完全掌控的领域，"塞茹尔内表示。"与跨大西洋贸易不同，我们可以自主运作单一市场。

Nor is Europe alone in its renewed interest in economic integration. Ottawa in February, hot on the heels of Trump announcing his first executive orders to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada, announced a “federal action plan” to eliminate barriers within its own internal market. China has similarly been pursuing a project of deeper economic consolidation.
重新关注经济一体化的并非只有欧洲。今年二月，在特朗普宣布首批行政令对墨西哥和加拿大所有商品征收 25%关税后，渥太华迅速出台了消除国内市场壁垒的"联邦行动计划"。中国同样在推进深化经济整合的工程。

In the EU, officials increasingly frame the single market not just as a technical matter of integration, but as a strategic asset for defending Europe’s industrial base, which has been struggling for years. Per capita disposable incomes have grown almost twice as much in the US as the EU since 2000. The bloc is lagging behind in new technologies, with only four of the world’s top 50 tech companies hailing from the EU. 
欧盟官员日益将单一市场不仅视为技术层面的整合议题，更作为捍卫欧洲工业基础的战略资产——这个基础已持续多年疲软。自 2000 年以来，美国人均可支配收入增速几乎是欧盟的两倍。这个经济体在新科技领域已然落后，全球前 50 大科技公司中仅有 4 家来自欧盟。

“Competitiveness and the single market are two sides of the same coin,” says Rebecca Christie of Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel. “If the EU’s businesses do better in the global economy, it will be because they are able to make better use of the single market. I don’t see how you can be more competitive without the single market.”
"竞争力与单一市场是一枚硬币的两面，"布鲁塞尔智库 Bruegel 的丽贝卡·克里斯蒂表示，"如果欧盟企业在全球经济中表现更好，那将是因为它们能更好地利用单一市场。我无法想象没有单一市场如何提升竞争力。"

Trump’s tariff blitz has spurred the EU’s 27 capitals to do their homework on more intra-European economic integration. Some cures, such as creating a single European capital market to free up investment from trillions of euros stashed in European savings accounts, have long been discussed.
特朗普的关税攻势促使欧盟 27 个成员国开始认真考虑深化欧洲内部经济一体化。一些解决方案（例如建立统一的欧洲资本市场，以释放欧洲储蓄账户中数万亿欧元资金用于投资）早已被讨论多年。

For most European companies, some of these fixes cannot come soon enough. Doing business across the EU is about nitty-gritty gruelling hurdles that have to be overcome on a day-to-day basis. 
对大多数欧洲企业而言，其中部分改革措施可谓迫在眉睫。在欧盟范围内开展业务意味着每天都要应对各种棘手的实际障碍。

The European Round Table for Industry (ERT), a business lobby group, identified more than 100 obstacles in the single market in one of the few full studies done on the matter in February last year.
企业游说团体欧洲工业圆桌会议(ERT)在去年 2 月针对单一市场开展的少数全面研究中，识别出超过 100 项市场壁垒。

The barriers covered everything from a lack of harmonisation over the frequencies allocated for telecoms to different interpretations of EU customs rules by national authorities. Divergent implementation of tax rules, differing building standards and a lack of harmonisation on regulatory requirements in the health sector were other hurdles listed.
这些障碍涵盖方方面面，从电信频段分配缺乏统一标准，到各国对欧盟海关规则的不同解读。税收规则执行差异、建筑标准不统一以及医疗领域监管要求缺乏协调，都是清单上列出的其他障碍。

Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker ASML, for example, flagged to the ERT that EU governments require hundreds of different data points on an employee being sent from one EU country to another. The format for submitting documents also differs across member states. France requires an online form; Ireland asks for a Microsoft Word document attached to an email.
例如，荷兰芯片制造设备公司 ASML 向欧洲圆桌会议指出，欧盟各国政府要求提供数百种不同的数据点，才能批准员工从一个欧盟国家调往另一个国家。文件提交格式也因成员国而异——法国要求在线表格，爱尔兰则要求将微软 Word 文档作为电子邮件附件发送。

The directive on rules around posting workers says that EU countries may require a “simple” declaration when a worker is sent on assignment within the bloc.
关于外派员工规则的指令规定，当员工在欧盟内部派遣时，成员国可要求提交"简易"申报。

“Our experience is that member states have a different interpretation of simple,” the company observed in its feedback. The red tape also meant that companies can exploit differences in labour standards across borders, it said.
该公司在反馈意见中指出："我们的经验是，各成员国对'简易'有着不同解读。"文件还表示，这种繁文缛节意味着企业可以钻各国劳工标准差异的空子。

In a separate survey of 55 chief executives of leading multinationals by the ERT in June, the majority said that only in two areas — transport and research — is the single market more harmonised than fragmented.
欧洲圆桌会议（ERT）6 月对 55 家领先跨国企业首席执行官进行的另一项调查显示，大多数受访者认为单一市场仅在两个领域——交通运输和科研——实现了较高程度的一体化而非割裂。

Some frustrations are over things as apparently simple as how a chocolate bar, make-up set or sparkling water bottle should be packaged. 
有些不满源于看似简单的问题，比如巧克力棒、化妆品套装或气泡水瓶该如何包装。

France, for example, has been warned twice by the EU executive for mandating that all packaging should be labelled with its “Triman” symbol — a man with three arrows — to indicate that it should be sorted for recycling.
例如，法国因强制要求所有包装必须标注"Triman"标志（一个带三箭头的图案）以表明该包装应分类回收，已两次受到欧盟行政机构的警告。

That means that packaging companies have to build separate production lines for, say, water bottles going to France from ones destined for the Benelux region or elsewhere in the EU. Even Séjourné has described the situation as “pretty crazy”. France has sent a response to the commission but could, in theory, face action at the European Court of Justice if the commission decides to pursue the case.
这意味着包装企业必须为销往法国的产品（例如水瓶）建立独立的生产线，与销往比荷卢地区或欧盟其他地区的产品区分开来。就连塞茹尔内也形容这种状况"相当荒谬"。法国已向欧盟委员会提交答复，但理论上若欧盟委员会决定追究此案，法国可能面临欧洲法院的诉讼。

Overall costs for changing packaging labels, reviewing contracts with suppliers and destroying unusable stocks can amount to €13,000 per category of products, according to industry figures. Multiplied over potentially thousands of different categories, the numbers can quickly add up to the millions of euros.
行业数据显示，更换包装标签、审查供应商合同及销毁不可用库存的综合成本，每类产品可达 1.3 万欧元。考虑到可能存在数千种不同产品类别，总成本很容易累积至数百万欧元。

“There is a lot of fuss, and rightfully so, on tariffs with other countries,” says Sap, the Umicore CEO. “But inside, we also have huge inconsistencies.” 
人们对外部关税问题议论纷纷，这理所当然，"优美科首席执行官萨普表示，"但欧盟内部同样存在严重的规则不一致。

Moreover, the existing rules that are in place to ensure free access of goods, people and services are not always enforced throughout the bloc. While the number of single market infringement cases is going down, those cases are still taking too long, the European Court of Auditors warned in an audit last year.   
此外，现行保障商品、人员和服务自由流动的规则并未在欧盟全境得到始终如一的执行。欧洲审计院在去年的审计报告中警告称，尽管单一市场侵权案件数量正在下降，但这些案件的审理仍耗时过长。

Letta, the former Italian premier whose report of the bloc’s internal market diagnosed the gaps, argues that this will cost the EU in the long term.
前意大利总理莱塔在其关于欧盟内部市场的报告中指出了现存差距，他认为从长远来看这将使欧盟付出代价。

“We pay an enormous price for this fragmentation and it is clear this fragmentation has to be eliminated,” he says.
"我们为这种分裂付出了巨大代价，显然必须消除这种分裂，"他表示。

Based on recommendations from Letta’s report, Brussels will now work on its single market strategy for the next few years. 
根据莱塔报告的建议，布鲁塞尔方面现在将着手制定未来几年的单一市场战略。

It aims to reduce the well-known barriers, boost the European services markets and enable small and medium-sized companies to benefit from a more integrated single market. Measures to be proposed include reducing the amount of time it takes to set environmental and consumer standards, harmonising the rules of packaging and waste, and simplifying the recognition of qualifications for professionals working across European countries.
该计划旨在减少众所周知的壁垒，提振欧洲服务市场，使中小企业能够从更一体化的单一市场中受益。拟议措施包括缩短环境和消费者标准的制定时间、统一包装与废弃物管理规则，以及简化跨国工作专业人员的资格认证流程。

The commission also wants to ensure the existing rules are better enforced by national capitals. A well-functioning single market requires “decisive enforcement action, including more systematic infringement proceedings”, the commission document says.
欧盟委员会还希望确保各成员国更好地执行现有规则。委员会文件指出，运转良好的单一市场需要"采取果断的执法行动，包括更系统的侵权诉讼程序"。

The strategy has been met with mixed reactions by industry groups and officials. Several observed that the proof of the pudding will be in national capitals agreeing to the proposed reforms.
该战略在行业团体和官员中引发不同反响。多位观察人士指出，改革方案能否成功取决于各成员国是否同意这些提议。

“Consider the scale of what [former commission president Jacques] Delors achieved in overcoming so many national interests to establish the single market. Now is the moment for a second wave,” says Anthony Gooch Gálvez of the ERT, adding that “the ball is firmly in the court” of national governments to match words with actions.
"想想[前欧盟委员会主席雅克]德洛尔当年克服重重国家利益建立单一市场的成就。现在正是掀起第二波浪潮的时刻，"欧洲工业圆桌会议成员安东尼·古奇·加尔维斯表示。他补充说，各国政府"必须用实际行动兑现承诺"，现在"球完全在他们那边"。

“Séjourné’s single market strategy misses an overarching vision,” says Christie, from the Bruegel think-tank. For her, more needs to be done in terms of “eliminating red tape for smaller businesses and helping them operate within the single market as it exists”.
布鲁盖尔智库的克里斯蒂表示："塞茹尔内的单一市场战略缺乏一个总体愿景。"在她看来，还需要在"为小企业消除繁文缛节并帮助它们在现有单一市场中运营"方面做更多工作。

Some industry officials, diplomats and even officials within the commission argue that Séjourné should have been more ambitious in his opening bid, given that upcoming negotiations with European capitals risk watering down the EU executive’s proposals. 
一些行业官员、外交官甚至欧盟委员会内部官员认为，考虑到即将与欧洲各国政府展开的谈判可能弱化欧盟行政机构的提案，塞茹尔内本应在初始方案中展现更大雄心。

“We expected more,” says one EU diplomat.
“我们原本期待更多，”一位欧盟外交官表示。

There is more to come. Early next year, the bloc will propose the introduction of a simplified regulatory regime specifically to let start-ups expand more easily and avoid having to navigate 27 sets of national rules. European companies would be able to opt in to an EU-level business code to avoid bureaucracy and allow small businesses to scale up fast. 
后续还有更多举措。明年初，欧盟将提议推出简化的监管制度，专门帮助初创企业更轻松地扩张，避免应对 27 套不同的国家法规。欧洲企业可选择采用欧盟级别的商业法规，从而规避官僚程序，让小型企业能够快速扩大规模。

Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, warns that the commission must be careful how far deeper integration goes. The commission’s “28th regime” idea could “erode decades of employment rights” built up in national law, she says.
欧洲工会联合会秘书长埃丝特·林奇警告称，欧盟委员会必须谨慎推进更深层次的一体化进程。她表示，欧盟委员会提出的“第 28 套制度”构想可能会“侵蚀各国法律中确立的数十年的就业权利”。

“We don’t want people working side by side with each other with different rights, that doesn’t make things simpler, that makes things more complicated.”
“我们不希望人们并肩工作却享有不同权利，这不会让事情变得更简单，反而会让情况更复杂。”

For Sander Slootweg, managing partner at Forbion, a life sciences venture capital firm with €5bn under management, it’s a matter of missed opportunity. Europe is not so far behind in innovation: in 2021, for example, it accounted for 17 per cent of global patent applications versus 21 per cent for the US and 25 per cent for China. 
对于管理着 50 亿欧元资产的生命科学风投公司 Forbion 的合伙人桑德·斯洛特韦格来说，这是错失良机的问题。欧洲在创新方面并未落后太多：例如 2021 年，欧洲占全球专利申请量的 17%，而美国和中国分别占 21%和 25%。

But when it comes to scaling up that innovation into a company, the lengthy approval processes for drugs, which differ from member state to member state, means that “Europe is not a very attractive market” and many early stage pharmaceutical companies are sucked over to the US.
但在将创新成果规模化转化为企业时，各国审批流程冗长且标准不一，意味着"欧洲并非极具吸引力的市场"，许多初创制药公司都被美国吸纳。

It is also a stifling atmosphere for EU venture capital firms, which not only have to register in their home country but also in every other EU country in which they want to raise capital. They also have to pay maintenance fees averaging around €3,000 per year per fund, Slootweg says.
这种环境也让欧盟风投机构倍感窒息——它们不仅要在母国注册，还需在每一个计划募资的欧盟成员国重复登记。Slootweg 指出，每只基金每年还需缴纳约 3000 欧元的维护费。

In some countries “if we withdraw registration the rule is we can’t market for at least three years in that jurisdiction,” Slootweg adds. “It’s very inefficient and it’s a lot of admin.”
Slootweg 补充道，某些国家规定"若撤销注册，至少三年内不得在该司法管辖区开展营销。这效率极低且行政手续繁琐。"

Séjourné admits that “everyone agrees on paper, but when you get down to the details, everyone has arguments to protect their market.”
塞茹尔内承认："在纸面上大家都同意，但一旦涉及具体细节，各方都有理由保护自己的市场。"

For Sap, this is not just about the daily grind of irritating fax requests.
对 SAP 而言，这不仅仅是处理烦人传真请求的日常琐事。

“It’s about Europe and our next generations. I believe in European values and the European project, so we have to think about what we want for those next generations.”
这关乎欧洲和我们子孙后代的未来。我坚信欧洲价值观和欧洲一体化计划，因此我们必须思考要为下一代创造怎样的未来。