Boosting EU competitiveness: the way forward

One Europe, One Market

Gathered in the European Council, EU leaders launched a ‘One Europe, One Market’ agenda in March 2026, to be implemented in 2026 where possible and by the end of 2027 at the latest.

This agenda identifies a set of concrete measures across five areas to be addressed urgently in order to boost European competitiveness and enhance the EU's strategic autonomy and economic security, sustaining Europe’s prosperity and social model.

Deepen and integrate the single market

Further simplify rules and reduce administrative burdens

Ensure affordable energy and achieve the energy transition

Foster Europe's industrial renewal, innovation and reduce dependencies

Mobilise investment

EU leaders will regularly review progress on all the strands, and provide additional strategic guidance when needed.

European Council, 19-20 March 2026

In the margins of the informal European Council meeting in Lefkosia on 24 April 2026, the Cyprus presidency of the Council, the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Commission signed the 'One Europe, One Market' roadmap, which features concrete proposals and measures, with timelines and milestones, based on the guidance provided by EU leaders.

On 18 June 2026, in the margins of the European Council meeting, the Council, the Parliament and the Commission issued the first progress report on the roadmap. Further progress on the roadmap is expected to be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

Single market

Ensuring that the EU has a truly integrated single market accessible for people and businesses is an urgent shared responsibility of all member states and EU institutions. Companies of all sizes should be able to operate seamlessly across the single market, and to scale up to reach their full potential.

EU leaders stressed that concrete and tangible progress towards preventing and removing barriers to the four freedoms should be achieved by March 2027. They outlined six priority measures.

Measure	Objective	Deadline
A 28th regime for company law, 'EU Inc.'	Help companies to operate and scale up across the single market, on a simple and digital-by-default basis	Agreement by co-legislators by the end of 2026
A unified e-declaration system when temporarily posting workers to other member states	Reduce administrative burdens whilst ensuring workers' rights	Agreement by co-legislators reached on 23 June 2026
Improve mutual recognition of professional qualifications and strengthen the portability of qualifications and skills	Enhance free movement of workers	Commission proposal by autumn 2026
Implement the ‘once-only’ principle, including through a European Business Wallet	Digitalise business interactions and simplify administrative procedures: documents are submitted to public authorities only once, with information and credentials securely stored and reused across borders.	Agreement by co-legislators by the end of 2026
Strengthen safeguards for placing products on the market	Enhance consumer protection from non-compliant goods	Commission proposal by the end of 2026
Address fragmented product labelling and packaging requirements	Facilitate free movement of goods	Commission proposal by the end of 2026

EU leaders underlined the need to improve the conditions for businesses to achieve the scale needed to invest, innovate and compete at global level. This includes the ongoing review of the merger guidelines.

They also called on the Commission to ensure timely and robust enforcement of single market rules.

Simplification

EU leaders called for the continuation of ongoing work on simplifying rules and reducing administrative burdens at EU, national and regional level to continue and identified concrete measures to further ensure that the regulatory environment is both innovation- and SME-friendly.

Measure	Objective	Deadline
Simplification measures from the pending omnibus packages	Simplify and reduce burdens arising from existing legislation	Agreement by co-legislators by the end of 2026, and on an AI omnibus by July 2026
New omnibus proposals and other simplification initiatives	Further streamline EU rules, including planning and permitting procedures	Commission proposals as soon as possible
In-depth regulatory review of the EU acquis	Eliminate outdated provisions, overlaps, inconsistencies and redundancies	Commission to perform review as soon as possible

Furthermore, EU leaders called on the Commission to:

ensure that all new EU initiatives are in line with the ‘simplicity-by-design’ principle, are accompanied by high-quality impact assessments, contribute to the Union's competitiveness goals, and reduce costs and avoid burdens
favour regulations over directives
limit the use of delegated and implementing acts, which should focus on technical elements

They also called on the co-legislators to avoid introducing additional administrative burdens in EU legal acts and urged member states to avoid imposing disproportionate national requirements when transposing and implementing EU rules.

Simplification of EU rules

Energy

EU leaders stressed that the energy transition is key to achieving Europe's strategic autonomy, reducing dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets, strengthening resilience, structurally lowering energy prices, and delivering clean, abundant and homegrown energy.

At the same time, targeted solutions are needed in the short term to ensure energy is affordable.

As the conflict in the Middle East has had an immediate impact on energy prices for EU citizens and businesses, the European Council underlined the need for a coordinated response.

The ‘One Europe, One Market’ agenda features a series of measures to this end.

Measure	Objective	Deadline
Toolbox of targeted temporary measures	Address the recent spikes in the prices of imported fossil fuels arising from the crisis in the Middle East	Commission communication on AccelerateEU published on 22 April 2026
Targeted measures covering all components of electricity prices	Lower prices in the short term, and address excessive volatility	Commission proposals as soon as possible
National temporary and targeted measures	Mitigate significant impacts of fuels and related cost components on electricity generation costs, while preserving long-term investment signals for renewable and low carbon energy production	Commission to work with member states as soon as possible
Review of the emissions trading system (ETS)	Reduce the volatility of the carbon price and mitigate its impact on electricity prices, while preserving the essential role of the ETS in the climate and energy transition	Commission presentation by July 2026
A European grids package, including faster permitting procedures	Build infrastructure, ensure it is protected, and enhance interconnections, thus contributing to an integrated and more robust energy market	Agreement by co-legislators in 2026

Furthermore, EU leaders called on the Member States and the Commission to accelerate the implementation of the Energy Union 2030 agenda, to rapidly allow increased and affordable electrification.

Industry and innovation

Fostering Europe's industrial renewal, accelerating innovation and reducing strategic dependencies have become preconditions for resilience, growth and job creation.

In the ‘One Europe, One Market’ agenda, EU leaders called for several actions.

Measure	Objective	Deadline
Mapping of dependencies in strategic sectors	Identify and mitigate risks to reinforce economic security and strategic autonomy	Commission, in cooperation with member states, to map by the end of 2026
Establish a targeted and proportionate ‘European preference’	Protect and reinforce selected strategic sectors and technologies	Agreement by co-legislators on an industrial accelerator act by the end of 2026 Commission to make further proposals as soon as possible
Measures against strong unfair competition and economic coercion	Defend against unfair practices by third countries in key sectors	Commission to take action as soon as possible
A technological sovereignty package	Take the lead to develop and control critical technologies in strategic sectors	Commission proposals as soon as possible

EU leaders also emphasised the need to continue diversifying trade and investment ties, including to secure access to essential resources, supply chains, markets and technologies.

Investment

A savings and investments union with a fully integrated capital market is fundamental to providing European businesses with the equity capital they need to innovate and grow and to creating quality jobs and sustainable growth in the EU.

EU leaders called for action in several areas to this end.

Measure	Objective	Deadline
Implement the savings and investment Union proposals on securitisation and supplementary pensions, and market integration and supervision package	Increase private funding, mobilise savings, and create a truly integrated European capital market	Agreement by co-legislators by the end of 2026
The digital euro	Support a resilient European payment system and strengthen the international role of the euro	Agreement by co-legislators by the end of 2026
Targeted amendments to the prudential framework	Enhance the capacity of the banking sector to finance the European economy, while safeguarding financial stability	Commission report by summer 2026

EU leaders called on the Commission and the co-legislators to deepen the integration of the EU banking market by progressing towards completing the banking union.

Savings and investments union