During the July plenary debate with Thierry Breton, Commissioner responsible for the internal market, Rob Jonkman, First Vice-president of the ECR Group, stressed that the EU should concentrate its efforts on a speedy economic recovery. He said: “the internal market is the greatest achievement in the history of the European Union.

Nevertheless, the future of the internal market is at a crossroads. The European economy has been estimated to contract by 7.4% because of COVID-19." Mr Jonkman underlined the point, saying: “this figure is of course an average and some industries, such as tourism, which are generally small family-owned operations, are suffering a disproportionate amount of economic loss. Start-ups and SMEs which depend on free trade, are in a struggle that has no parallel in our lifetime". Mr Jonkman continued: “it is now vital we redouble our fight to help local and regional economies. Simple rules of public procurement, increased liquidity and improved access to finance are excellent tools at our disposal to better assist our businesses, and SMEs in particular".

 Finally, the ECR First Vice-President stressed that “this is not the time to pursue overambitious EU objectives". “We need to stay pragmatic and realistic. All newly adopted proposals need to be subject to a recovery test." Mr Jonkman was referring to a proposed “recovery test" in which every accepted policy that did not also help the recovery from the economic fallout relating to COVID-19 should be delayed for the time being. Mr Jonkman concluded by emphasising pragmatism and realism.