One Market, One Law — Toward the Completion of the Single Market

Forty years ago, on 17 and 28 February 1986, the European States signed, under the leadership of Jacques Delors, the Single European Act. It set the objective of completing the Single Market by 31 December 1992 and paved the way for the European single currency.

On 25 April 1991, in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), the African States of the CFA franc zone, determined to preserve their common currency and secure its future, launched an ambitious process to unify their business law, which would lead to the creation of OHADA.

Today, the Draghi and Letta reports warn that Europe is falling behind, largely because of the persistent fragmentation and incomplete nature of the Single Market. Forty years after the Single European Act, the time has come to complete what was started and give European businesses the legal framework they need to compete successfully on the global stage.

Just as the United States did with the Uniform Commercial Code, and Africa did with OHADA, Europe should now underpin its Single Market and its single currency with a single, optional and directly applicable European Business Code.

EU Inc. and the 28th Regime are the first step in this journey. They pave the way towards a genuine European Business Code.

The United States and Africa did it. Europe can and must do it !