One of the ways in which the European Commission has sought over the years to strengthen the European single market is by means of increased harmonisation of the regulation of electronic communications. To the extent that the European Union functions as a confederation of somewhat autonomous member states, however, there are both practical and political limits to the degree of harmonisation that is realistically desirable or achievable.









This paper was published in Intereconomics

In this paper, the authors explore the potential costs and benefits of increased centralisation or harmonisation at European level in two key electronic communications policy areas: market entry and spectrum management.

The authors reflect in particular on the Telecoms Single Market (TSM) legislative proposals put forward by the European Commission in 2013. Based on this assessment, a selective approach to harmonisation appears to be called for – it is necessary to pay careful attention to what is harmonised, and how.”