General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026 - all sections

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection calls on the Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

1.Calls for the Union budget for 2026 to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness strengthening the functioning of the single market, supporting the transition to a digital, sustainable, competitive and carbon-neutral social market economy, to promote and protect the interests of European consumers by ensuring a high standard of protection, especially in the light of new challenges from the online sphere, and to remove all unjustified barriers to hampering its functioning; reduce unjustified administrative burdens for companies, and ensure adequate implementation, compliance and enforcement of existing legislation, highlights the need to strengthening and increasing the resilience of the single market, as well as its accessibility for business, aiming at increasing EU trade flows, securing supply chains and achieving value chains, thus contributing to economic growth; stresses that the single market is an essential element for achieving a globally competitive, business-friendly, circular, net-zero carbon and resource- and energy-efficient economy; welcomes, in this regard, the work done so far on circular economy, focusing on removing market barriers, ensuring consumers rights and promoting sustainable business models;

2.Highlights that the multiple challenges facing Europe require increased investment and coordination at European level and calls on the Commission to propose a Union budget for 2026 that reflects the urgent nature of these challenges and ensures the future of Europe’s strategic autonomy; the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, hybrid attacks on Member States and foreign interference, among others, underline the need for the single market to be resilient and ready to deal with emergencies in the internal market, securing supply chains and access to critical raw materials; calls on the European Commission to take into account, when allocating budgets, mitigating the effects of the war in Ukraine on Member States, especially on those with a common border;

3.Underlines the unprecedented security crisis faced by the Union, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and highlights the increased security risks in the current geopolitical situation, especially for those Member States neighbouring conflict areas; calls on the Commission to ensure that the Union budget prioritises investment towards further building the single market into the area of security and defence, reducing cross-border barriers, promoting standardisation and interoperability of defence and dual-use equipment, investing in European Defence Projects of Common Interest, which have the potential to boost integration on the single market; stresses that further single market integration in the area of security and defence is key to boosting the competitiveness and production capabilities of the European Defence Technology Industrial Base, supporting European microenterprises and SMEs, fostering innovation and allowing them to scale-up and become strong global players;

4.Recalls the need to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of the EU economy, through ambitious EU industrial policies that can significantly contribute to achieving the EU’s social, digital, environmental and economic growth objectives, while maintaining a level playing field and legal certainty in the single market and reducing unjustified regulatory and administrative burdens to unlock the full potential of cross-border trade, particularly in services; calls for a genuine Competitiveness Fund setting the macroeconomic conditions for enhancing investment in key sectors in need; stresses that the new Competitiveness Fund should further contribute to strengthening the Single Market and strengthening its resilience whilst ensuring simplification and flexibility of funds; highlights in this regard, the recently proposed Competitiveness Compass for the EU in order to safeguard the EU’s future as an economic powerhouse, an investment destination and a manufacturing centre;

5.Recalls the conclusions of the Draghi report, highlighting that 30% of European ‘unicorn’ companies seek funding and growth outside of Europe; calls on the Commission to ensure that the 2026 Union budget prioritises investment in innovation, promoting measures that render the single market more accessible for technology and innovation start-ups, especially through simplified rules for business, reducing administrative burdens linked to the use of funds under the Union budget; highlights that the simplification of budgetary rules and procedures is essential for encouraging business to make full use of the benefits associated to the single market and scale-up in Europe:

6.Calls on the Commission to ensure that the 2026 Union budget increases resources supporting the proper application of single market rules and consumer rights, including product safety regulations; recalls the European Commission investigations into non-EU e-commerce platforms on the basis of non-compliance with single market and consumer rights rules; underlines the need to allocate budgetary resources for building common European capabilities, such as product-testing facilities, in order to support investigations into actors selling non-compliant products on the single market; stresses that the application of single market rules is essential for ensuring fair competition, protecting European consumers, promoting trust between businesses and consumers and preventing market distortions; stresses the importance of strengthening the enforcement of consumer rights at EU and national level, coordinating EU and national enforcement actions for increased efficiency as well as and improving consumers’ awareness of their rights;

7.Considers it necessary to intensify support for Member States in the digital transformation of the public sector, with particular attention to administrative procedures impacting businesses and consumers, enabling seamless access to digital public services;

8.Welcomes the increase in the number of staff responsible for the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) and considers it essential to ensure sufficient funding and staffing to ensure an effective, appropriate and proper enforcement of the DMA and the DSA addressing the current imbalance of resources between enforcement authorities and digital platforms; notes that the EU’s technological sovereignty depends on the proper enforcement of these regulations; stresses the importance of combating foreign interference, ensuring consumer protection, addressing the dangers of dark patterns, addictive design and biased algorithms, especially for youngsters, and protecting the transparency, accountability and integrity of the digital public space;

9.Insists that additional funding is needed to ensure the proper enforcement of the AI ​​Act, by providing the necessary staff to the European AI Office, while supporting research and development of AI-based solutions and innovative approaches that enhance the EU’s technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy;

10.Underlines that the Single Market Programme should seek to strengthen the capacity of contracting authorities to carry out strategic public procurement, particularly by enhancing their ability to design accessible tenders and reduce administrative burdens; highlights that better-skilled and better-resourced procurement authorities are essential to ensuring procurement serves the public interest through the diligent use of taxpayers’ money, facilitating access for SMEs, aligning procedures with best practices, and delivering more effective, impactful, and long-term investments;

11.Stresses the urgent need to allocate adequate resources to strengthen the customs union and increase the resilience and effectiveness of customs and market surveillance authorities, enabling them to carry out more systematic checks on products and respond effectively to the growing influx of non-compliant, unsafe and illegal products imported via e-commerce platforms from non-EU countries; highlights the extremely rapid growth of individual parcels imported in the Union, directly by customers, through non-EU e-commerce platforms; stresses the need for better cooperation among customs authorities and uptake of IT tools as well as further resources dedicated to ensuring thorough customs checks of such parcels, in order to determine their compliance with EU standards, protect consumers and ensure a level playing field for European business; calls for more resources to develop digital tools in order to improve customs efficiency among national authorities; underlines the role of a robust customs system in protecting the EU's economic resilience and competitiveness by making cross-border trade more efficient and in combating illicit activities in the market, protecting consumers and eliminating unfair competition.