10 European Union countries urge reform of the single market to increase competitiveness.

They asserted that the single European market needed reform.

Ten European Union countries on Wednesday called for reform of the bloc’s single market to make them more competitive with the United States and China in the clean energy sector.

The call came from the prime ministers of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia in a letter to the European Commission which could propose new laws for the EU.

“Political attention has focused on short-term measures in light of rising energy prices and increasingly fierce global competition in the clean technology sector,” the leaders of the 10 countries said in the letter.

“What the EU needs now is a strategy on long-term competitiveness to keep pace with our main competitors globally in terms of economic output and productivity,” they added. They called for discussing the issue at the next European Union summit on March 23 and 24.

They stated that the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US inflationary law highlighted the problem of European competitiveness.

“Europe needs a long-term strategy to increase competitiveness and productivity that complements the recent Commission initiative of the Industrial Green Deal Scheme,” the letter states.

The letter stated that the European single market needed reform, noting that the service sector in the bloc, which contributes more than two-thirds of Europe’s GDP, is of great importance along with the “clean technology” industry, such as the production of batteries or hydrogen facilities.

The leaders said the focus should be on increasing productivity and growth.