Single Market Emergency Instrument

The ex-ante analysis of this initiative, aimed at addressing impacts on the single market caused by a potential future crisis, implies major uncertainties and limitations, openly acknowledged by the IA (notably owing to a lack of data). Notwithstanding this important caveat, the IA develops a clear intervention logic, linking the problems with objectives to achieve through three policy options, without, however, fully complying with the Better Regulation Guidelines. It assesses the broad scope of potential impacts of these options (rather than specific impacts), and compares their effectiveness, efficiency and coherence. The interaction with other EU or national anti-crisis tools, including the recently proposed EU chips act, could have been addressed more thoroughly, and more efforts could have been made to quantify at least some effects. Taking the proportionality and subsidiarity principles consistently into account – and notably stakeholder concerns in this respect – the IA does not select a preferred option. This reflects the particularly sensitive, political nature of the decision on the degree of the EU's competence to intervene, under set conditions, in economic processes, so as to avoid disruptions of the single market and EU supply chains in a future crisis.