The single market and common policies in uncommon circumstances

Markets can deliver growth but need help from government provision of infrastructure, regulation, stabilization, and redistribution. In the 20 years since the 10th anniversary of the Single Market, growth in Europe has remained rela-tively slow. Two deep crises revealed underlying problems and prompted the introduction of new instruments in the European policy framework. The market currently faces dramatic challenges from war and international tensions and suffers from the effects of subsidy-and-debt policies that persist after the Covid-19 pandemic. Deep divisions across and within member countries and between Europe and the rest of the world unfortunately hamper efforts to coherently configure European policies.