EU politicians should prioritize the integration of the Single Market rather than the establishment of trade barriers to ensure the prosperity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to German stainless steel trader Gerber Group.
At a meeting of EU leaders in Oldenbiesen on Thursday, Gerber warned that fighting rising costs, expanding bureaucracy and an "increasingly dysfunctional" single market was the key to solving Europe's competitiveness problem rather than protecting trade. "Non-tariff barriers, regulatory fragmentation and administrative requirements now effectively operate in the form of domestic tariffs in the range of 65-100%," Kallanish reports.
"The single European market is in a state of stagnation, while prices and production costs continue to rise. Protective tools such as tariffs, quotas or provenance requirements increase the cost of creating value in Europe instead of securing it," says Thorsten Gerber, Executive Director.
Unlike large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises are unable to cover rising costs or move production abroad. Trade barriers exacerbate existing imbalances within the EU, a single market made up of countries with highly diverse economies, the firm notes.
It suggests that policy makers should not introduce new trade barriers without a comprehensive assessment of the overall impact, eliminate protective measures that benefit only large industries, and prioritize the removal of barriers in the domestic market.
Mandatory checks of the impact of new and planned initiatives on SMEs are also needed, a tangible reduction in bureaucracy as a goal of increasing competitiveness, and trade policy should complement, rather than replace, a functioning Single Market, Gerber concludes.
Author: Adam Smith Austria
Kallanish.com
