For your information, today the European Commission adopted its 2026 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report (COM(2026)46).

The report strongly underlines that, despite its central role as Europe’s main economic asset and shock absorber, the Single Market continues to be held back by persistent barriers at both EU and national level.

Importantly, the Commission explicitly calls for joint action to remove the “Terrible Ten” most significant barriers to the Single Market, coupled with renewed efforts to reduce administrative burdens and strengthen enforcement through the first Annual Single Market Enforcement Agenda.

This message clearly confirms FESI’s long-standing position and repeated calls to:

• drop the “Terrible Ten” barriers, such as labelling, sorting instruction, waste and EPR,
• fully uphold and complete the Single Market as the foundation of European competitiveness and resilience.

The report also highlights broader risks, including industrial erosion, declining innovation performance, and persistent strategic dependencies, reinforcing the case for a strong, well-functioning Single Market rather than fragmented national approaches.

The publication is accompanied by:

• the 2026 Single Market and Competitiveness Scoreboard,
• a Staff Working Document on implementation of the Competitiveness Compass, Clean Industrial Deal and Single Market Strategy, and
• the Annual Report of the Single Market Enforcement Task Force.

Full report: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2026:46:FIN

‍