Attached you can find EFB’s contribution to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the Single Market Strategy for 2025 from January 2025.

With the help of our members we identified the barriers faced by businesses while they operate in the Single Market.

We are pleased that the European Council has asked the Commission for the creation of a horizontal strategy for the single market to ensure that there is a removal of Single Market barriers at both EU and member state level. 

Ensuring that the Single Market is completed is critical for businesses competitiveness. After consulting with our members, we have highlighted in the attached documents the main challenges facing family businesses and some suggestions for deepening the Single Market backed by examples from our members.

We asked our members to consider the following points and provide us with examples relating to their business: 

• Examples of regulatory and administrative barriers that make your company’s business difficult. 

• Divergences in regulatory and administrative regimes across the single market that make life difficult for businesses, workers and citizens. 

• What difficulties have you experienced in obtaining or establishing cross-border services/ trade in goods and investments? 

• What are the obstacles to growth within the Single Market? 

• Do you have examples of when your company faced obstacles in accessing skilled labour? 

We thank our members for their detailed feedback.