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Digitisation fronts new Commission strategy to boost EU single market
Efforts to promote digitisation of the single market underpin a new strategy to breathe life into the project set to be presented by EU Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné on Wednesday, according to a draft seen by Euronews.
The plan sets out six pillars for improvement of the single market and refers to the context of a global trade crisis.
The Commission wants to remove ten “terrible” market barriers that currently “negatively impact trade and investment”, boost European services markets that bring the highest economic value, relieve the burden on SMEs, digitize administration, and push member states to address administrative barriers on national level.
A separate Single Market Omnibus proposal set to be published on Wednesday alongside the strategy will be designed to cut red tape for SMEs and mid-cap firms, promising to shift the sector “from a document to a data-based single market”.
Fragmented IT systems, and a lack of data exchanges make it difficult for businesses to comply with regulatory requirements, the Commission text claims, stressing the need to move from “exchanging paper documents towards exchanging digital data.”
It proposes making a so-called Digital Product Passport (DPP) compulsory and allowing companies to disclose and share product information – including conformity documentation, manuals, safety and technical information – across all new and revised product legislation.
The first DPP, for batteries, is expected to become operational in 2027 under the plan and the tool will be rolled out to other product categories. This will “result in swift cost reduction for both economic operators and authorities,” the text says.
Further digitisation efforts include promoting digital invoicing, which currently has a low uptake across the bloc. The Commission will table a proposal late next year for it to become the mandatory standard for public procurement.
The strategy also envisages modernising the current framework of product rules determining what may be placed on the market, which it says need “improvement”, through planned reforms slated for the second quarter of next year.
A spokesperson for European consumer group BEUC told Euronews that current rules don’t adequately address “the many challenges brought by e-commerce”, resulting in unsafe products entering the EU market via online marketplaces.
High-level political meeting to target services
The strategy will target promotion of services across the single market and the document stresses regulations in member states which it claims currently restrict access to around 5,700 services activities.
It proposes addressing this by harmonising authorisation and certification schemes for providers of services across the single market, and through new rules to make it easier for highly skilled workers to temporarily provide services cross-border. The European social security pass will also be deployed and enable the digital verification of social security rights.
In addition, a legislative proposal will target territorial supply constraints imposed by large manufacturers which hinder retailers buying products in one member state from reselling in another.
The strategy proposes that member states’ governments appoint so-called “Sherpas for the Single Market” to operate within in their prime minister’s or president’s office, to take charge of promoting the application of the rulebook.
ADVERTISEMENTTo strengthen an existing Single Market Enforcement Taskforce – a group which brings member states’ authorities together with and the Commission – the EU executive proposes staging an annual high-level political meeting of EU ministers, the national “sherpas” of the single market, as well as Séjourné to provide strategic and political guidance to the taskforce. A first high-level political meeting should take place at the end of the year.
The omnibus package presented Wednesday should also improve standardisation which remains too slow according to the EU executive by allowing the Commission to establish common specifications. The aim is also to strengthen the EU’s role as a global standard-setter. A review of the standards regulation will also be announced.
EU lawmaker Sophia Kircher (Austria/EPP) told Euronews that services and capital market sectors are currently suffering from the lack of harmonisation. “National differences in regulations slow down our SMEs in particular when they want to operate across borders,” Kircher said.
Trump congratulates Colombia presidential candidate
Trump congratulated Abelardo De La Espriella, known by many as ‘El Tigre,’ following an initial ballot count. While not officially called, the narrow lead signals a potential rightward shift for Colombia. (Reuters.)
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Progressive candidate Iván Cepeda on Wednesday conceded Colombia’s presidential election to conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The concession came days after Cepeda initially refused to acknowledge defeat following preliminary results that showed de la Espriella as the apparent winner.
“At this stage of the vote count, I have decided to accept the result emerging from that process, which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new President of the Republic,” Cepeda said in an address to the nation.
“I do so as an act of democratic responsibility.”
TRUMP SAYS COLOMBIA’S ‘EL TIGRE’ WILL BE A ‘GREAT PRESIDENT’ AS SOCIALIST OPPONENT LAUNCHES LEGAL CHALLENGE
Ivan Cepeda speaks during a campaign rally in Cali, Colombia, on June 6, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
De la Espriella, a businessman and lawyer who had never previously run for office, known to his supporters as “El Tigre,” defeated Senate member Iván Cepeda by one percentage point in a remarkably close election, according to officials.
“The vote count shows an extraordinarily narrow margin between the two options vying for the trust of the Colombian people,” he said. “Less than 1% of the vote separates the candidacies that participated in this contest.”
Despite his concession, Cepeda made serious allegations that de la Espriella’s victory was influenced by “foreign interference” by the United States and the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate voters.
“During this process, we denounced the open and improper foreign interference in Colombia’s internal affairs—particularly the interventions by the United States government, and specifically the interventions by President Donald Trump in support of Abelardo de la Espriella’s candidacy,” he said.
He further accused the opposing campaign of widespread vote-buying and unethical tactics that he said undermined the legitimacy of the election results.
ANTI-CARTEL HARDLINER CHANNELS TRUMP IN BID TO END COLOMBIA’S LEFTIST ERA IN PIVOTAL ELECTION
Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech to supporters during a campaign rally in Palmira, near Cali, Colombia on May 14, 2026. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images)
President-elect de la Espriella will begin his four-year term in August.
“Starting August 7, we will work with determination to consolidate a common agenda that strengthens the security, freedom, and prosperity of our nations,” de la Espriella in a post on X.
The result will effectively end outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s leftist influence on the state and the policies Cepeda had pledged to continue if he won the election.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, left, and President Donald Trump are shown in separate photographs. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images; Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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A core pillar of Petro’s signature agenda was his “total peace” strategy, aimed at opening negotiations with remaining guerrilla forces, drug cartels, and armed paramilitary groups in an effort to end Colombia’s decades long internal conflict.
In contrast, de la Espriella has pledged a more hardline approach, including a militarized crackdown on criminal organizations, proposals to build mega-prisons, expand fossil fuel fracking, and revive the controversial practice of aerial glyphosate spraying to eradicate coca crops.
The president-elect, who holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship, has also said he plans to add Colombia to the Trump-dubbed “Shield of the Americas,” a proposed coalition aimed at coordinating efforts against criminal groups in Latin America.
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Ten years after the UK voted to exit the European Union, the debate over Brexit’s legacy is far from over. MEPs Barry Andrews (Renew Europe) and Sander Smit (European Conservatives & Reformists) go head-to-head on whether Brexit has strengthened or weakened Europe—and whether Britain could or should one day return to the bloc.
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For Irish MEP Barry Andrews, the answer is clear. He argues that leaving the EU was a mistake and a “total disaster” for the UK, pointing to years of political instability and economic challenges since the referendum. He also contends that Brexit has ultimately strengthened support for the European project, stating that “there is nobody looking to leave the European Union anymore.”
Dutch MEP Sander Smit takes a different view, saying the EU still misses “the UK’s crucial voice for fiscal and financial discipline” and warning against a more centralised Europe. “Our future lies in a stronger partnership,” he says. “Let the UK and EU countries move beyond the past and work together as natural, sovereign allies.”
The Ring is hosted by Méabh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.
You can contact us at: thering@euronews.com
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