The Bank of Spain published its Common Market Law on December 10, but companies doubt whether it can be enforced effectively. As expected, regional governments are resisting the measure. Four of them -- Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and the Basque region -- have said that they will petition the Constitutional Court on grounds that the measures limits competition. Other regions are reserving their issues with the measure and prefer to let the negotiation process play out before they weigh in.
The national government should come to an agreement with the regions and streamline a long list of 2,700 laws. This task is both complex and pressing. So businesses doubt when and where they will see the benefits of a common market system. For example, creating the "licencia única" for all of Spain, which is the star child of the new law, will not go into effect until March. The companies have their doubts because what looks good on paper often looks different in life.
And these businesses know of many examples of how bureaucracy and political powers can keep markets from working efficiently, make it hard to start a company and build barriers that prevent flexible working schedules.
In the four regions mentioned above, leaders are speaking out against the common market law, because it threatens economic growth and goes against the trend of global and open trade that world economies are following. Before enacting the common market law, political leaders should decide what is more important: their politicking or economic growth and job creation.
