STRATEGY FOR THE RE-LAUNCHING OF THE EU INTERNAL MARKET IN RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, 2008–2010

The 2008–2010 economic crisis revealed many problems in the EU’s real business market. Of course these resulted primarily from the troubles of financial institutions, but they also derived in part from deficiencies in the functioning of the EU internal market. In answer to these challenges, the Commission has presented the Single Market Act, which contains 12 initiatives directed at reviving the EU internal market. However, the strategy mapped out does not essentially provide for any substantial steps or actions which would, in the short term, improve the entrepreneurs’ situation in the crisis-ridden EU. It constitutes a deepening of the current integration, a simplification of the current regulations, and elimination of the most critical – i.e. not all – barriers. The internal market should be perceived as a mechanism ensuring the effective conduct of business activity, simultaneously reducing unemployment and increasing consumer confidence. This would be a strategy for making an ‘escape forward’ from the crisis.