The 15th episode of the Beyond Borders: Breakfast Debate series, organized by the Border Focal Point Network, was successfully held on December 5, 2023. This Debate featured high-level panelists of various backgrounds in a discussion of “Navigating the EU Single Market – How to help SMEs across borders?”. 

Our esteemed host, Lord Andrew Lansley, along with Slawomir Tokarski, Director in DG REGIO, set the tone for a very interesting discussion on border regions, or as they have previously been called, “living laboratories of European integration” in the context of the Single Market. 

An essential part of this Debate was the participation of former Prime Minister of Italy, Mr. Enrico Letta, who has been tasked by the European Council with the mission to assess the state of the Single Market and create new momentum for economic integration in Europe. As he stated during his opening remarks, Mr. Letta participated in this debate with the aim of drawing up ideas and opinions regarding cross-border cooperation and the state of SMEs operating in border regions, in order to enhance his high-level report.  

At this time, the interactive Debate featured a video testimonial from Joan Blanco, the coordinator of the cross-border Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bihartean, composed by three chambers of commerce in the Basque Region. In his testimonial, Mr. Blanco addressed the principal obstacle faced by SMEs in cross-border operations, which is the lack of funding.  

Ricardo Ferreira, Planning and Programming Officer in DG Regio, emphasized the achievements of the Single Market at a transnational level between EU countries, while also acknowledging the obstacles of transferring these benefits to the local level and enhancing the proximity cross-border interaction between SMEs. To identify solutions to such problems from a bottom-up perspective, Mr. Ferreira highlighted the process of piloting as well as the work of b-solutions to provide support in border regions. 

The conversation continued by highlighting the cross-border cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria, as well as Poland and Lithuania, presented by Eugeniy Ivanov and Beata Czaplińska respectively. Transport, legal and regulatory problems, and the lack of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation comprised of business organizations were identified as the main obstacles for SMEs in Bulgaria when operating in Greece. Accordingly, Ms. Czaplińska underlined that variant regulation frameworks and product standards between the two countries can halt cross-border operations between SMEs in the Polish-Lithuanian border region. 

It was then Antonio Novo Guerrero, president of European Clusters Alliance, who drew attention to the necessity for reinforcing the linkages between clusters across borders to achieve more effective cooperation of SMEs.  

To finish the session, Mr. Letta underlined that the complexity of SMEs operating in the Single Market is amplified due to the fragmentation of corporate laws, thus leading to SMEs having a defensive approach to cross-border trade. Mr. Letta expressed his interest in previous work of the DG REGIO to strengthen his Report.