EU Removes Trade Barriers: What Italian Businesses and Residents Can Expect in 2026

The European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné, has issued a direct challenge to national lawmakers across the bloc: dismantle the bureaucratic walls that are choking Europe's competitiveness. Speaking before joint parliamentary committees in Italy—the Chamber's Environment, Productive Activities, and EU Policies Committees, alongside the Senate's Industry and EU Policies Committees—Séjourné made clear that 2026 is a decisive year for reform. His message was pointed: the European single market, fragmented by 27 separate regulatory regimes, is stalling growth and locking small and medium-sized enterprises out of cross-border opportunities.

The "Terrible Ten" Barriers

Séjourné identified 10 fundamental economic obstacles rooted in national laws that hinder business across the EU. These barriers include:

Complicated establishment procedures: Setting up a subsidiary or branch in another member state remains bureaucratically complex and costly.

Overly complex EU rules: Even when harmonized, some regulations are intricate enough that SMEs struggle to comply without specialized consultants.

Lack of member state ownership: National governments fail to fully implement or enforce single market rules, creating gaps and inconsistencies.

Limited recognition of professional qualifications: A professional licensed in Italy may face years of re-certification to practice elsewhere in the EU.

Absence of common standards: Slow and fragmented technical standardization processes delay product launches and innovation.

Divergent packaging and labeling rules: A product cleared for sale in Italy may require different packaging for other EU markets.

Product compliance issues: Ensuring goods meet relevant standards when crossing borders remains cumbersome and opaque.

Restrictive national services regulation: Legal, accounting, and consulting services face varying national rules that impede cross-border provision.

Burdensome worker posting rules: Posting employees temporarily to another country can trigger onerous administrative requirements.

Territorial supply constraints: Practices that limit cross-border supply chains drive up consumer prices and reduce choice.

Why This Matters for Italy

For Italian businesses and residents, Séjourné's call to action signals both risk and opportunity. Italy, with thousands of export-oriented SMEs concentrated in high-value sectors like machinery, fashion, and food processing, stands to gain significantly from barrier reduction. Conversely, inaction will cement fragmentation, disadvantaging Italian exporters against competitors in more integrated regions.

The Commission has signaled that legislative proposals addressing these barriers are expected throughout 2026. Key initiatives under discussion include reforms to public procurement, product regulation, worker mobility, and professional qualification recognition.

What Could Change

If national parliaments—including Italy's—respond to the call and begin dismantling these barriers, Italian exporters and service providers could experience faster market access across the EU. Potential impacts include:

• Reduced compliance costs: Streamlining administrative requirements could significantly lower the regulatory burden on businesses, particularly for SMEs.

• Improved professional mobility: Reforms to mutual recognition of qualifications could ease cross-border work for Italian professionals.

• Lower consumer prices: Eliminating territorial supply constraints could reduce prices for goods and services.

• Better market access: Clearer rules and harmonized standards could create a larger addressable market for Italian companies.

For residents and consumers, the reforms could mean more choice, lower prices, and better access to cross-border services.

The Role of National Parliaments

Many of the "Terrible Ten" barriers are enshrined in national law, often the result of outdated regulations or political compromises that prioritize local interests over European integration. Changing this requires legislative action in Rome and across the EU.

In Italy, this means scrutinizing domestic rules on professional licensing, packaging standards, company formation, and service provision. It also means resisting the temptation to add extra national requirements on top of EU directives—a practice known as "gold plating"—which exacerbates fragmentation.

The Italian Parliament's EU Policies Committees are positioned to play a central role in this process, working with the Commission and other member states.

The Path Forward

Séjourné's address to Italian lawmakers is part of a broader campaign to revitalize the European single market at a time when global competition is intensifying. The Commission has committed to pursuing reforms through simplification, harmonization, digitalization, and enhanced market surveillance.

For Italy, the choice is clear. As one of the EU's largest manufacturing economies, it has much to gain from barrier reduction—and much to lose from inaction. Whether national lawmakers will answer Séjourné's call remains to be seen, but 2026 is shaping up as a critical year for Europe's commitment to its single market.