Circularity needs a true Single Market

The discussion took place during the 44th Annual General Assembly of the Association of Industries of Central Greece in Chalkida, with the participation of Commissioner Jessika Roswall and Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou.

The EU circularity rate currently stands at 12.2%. In more than a decade, the rate has only moved 1.5 percentage points. "The technology to do better exists. What does not exist is legal coherence", Persson highlighted.

Persson underlined that the EU already has extensive legislation linked to circular economy objectives. Therefore, the Circular Economy Act must consider new legal requirements only where market failures persist despite existing EU rules. The future Act should establish a harmonised framework addressing the persistent fragmentation of waste management rules across Member States. The EU must avoid a patchwork of national systems that undermines competitiveness, investment and circularity objectives.

To achieve circularity, Europe also needs stronger market incentives and a genuine Single Market for secondary raw materials. Fragmented national approaches continue to create legal uncertainty, administrative burdens and barriers to investment.