Egységes piaci és vámügyi program

 welcomes the European Commission’s proposal establishing the Single Market and Customs Programme 2028-2034 and agrees that a well-functioning single market is a prerequisite for a competitive, safe and secure economy, and that more action is needed to address barriers, stimulate reforms and reduce fragmentation especially in the context of new global challenges;

 regrets that so far too little progress has been made to implement the recommendations of the Draghi and Letta reports, albeit acknowledging steps in the right direction are being taken; reiterates its call for establishing key performance indicators and concrete mid- to long-term targets for single market integration, to measure whether the programme’s objectives are being achieved;

 underlines the importance of systematically including user experience from local and regional authorities in the evaluation of single market policies; welcomes the envisaged improvement of evidence-based policymaking the programme seeks to support and requests the systematic involvement of the Committee of the Regions’ Better Regulation tools, including its Regional Hubs Network, in this effort;

 calls for the acknowledgement of local and regional authorities as key partners in the implementation of the programme; stresses that cooperation among and between Member States’ national authorities, the Commission and other EU bodies in all programme areas can only be efficient if local and regional authorities are also involved, and that support measures for them should be at the heart of the programme according to the principles of multi-level governance;

 emphasises that cohesion policy is not only an additional condition for a successful single market but fundamental to its functioning; therefore calls for the programme’s implementation to take this fully into account.