EU Plans "Digital Single Market"; European Markets End Volatile Day Higher; US Markets Close Lower
QUEST: The EU has a plan that will radically update its digital economy. The European Commission says it wants to create a digital single market by tearing down barriers that stifle competition, and that will free Europe's tech leaders to compete with the US. So, first of all, they want to end geo-blocking. You know what geo- blocking is. That's the really annoying bit that sends online shoppers to sites based only where they're located. Ending geo-blocking would allow consumers more choice. You could buy from the cheapest country, allows access to more goods, lower shipping fees. The EU thinks the single market could add nearly 500 billion -- 466 billion a year -- to the European economy. And the Commission has launched inquiries into competition in the tech sector, likely to target firms -- huge US firms, we already know about the investigations into Google. The Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, says he wants a wave of European start-ups, and he wasn't afraid to get hands-on with technology.</s>JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Even techies like me know that technology has to be our future.</s>QUEST: Well, there we are. He's signing something digitally. Frederic Mazzella is the founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar, a ride-sharing app that's based in Paris. He joins me now. So, sir, you must welcome -- yours is a long-distance ride-sharing scheme -- you must welcome the digital proposals by the Commission. But what's wrong with them?</s>FREDERIC MAZZELLA, FOUNDER AND CEO, BLABLACAR: Well, actually, it's very good news because it's a set of 16 measures that will help harmonizing, setting the new foundation, and boosting the European economy. So, we're actually super happy that this is happening. There are two measures which are really good for our expansion, is that the VAT is -- there is a legislative proposal to uniform, to make it more uniform, the VAT. And then there is also a comprehensive study that would be done for the online platforms which have to run all over Europe. Because when you grow a business from Europe -- and from the US, it's quite different. It's like comparing a hurdle race --</s>QUEST: Right, but --</s>MAZZELLA: -- with a hundred-meter sprint, because -- yes?</s>QUEST: But, I see the point. And I'm slightly skeptical because I've heard all of this -- I've heard these sort of proposals before, and they take years to ever get anywhere close, and they get well and truly bogged down in European politics, because it is 27 countries -- 28, 28 countries.</s>MAZZELLA: Yes, it is a complexity. It is a complexity that Europe has to overcome. We have to start somewhere, and we are really motivated to do it. And really, we are showing that now in Europe we are able to create the unicorns, like companies which are worth more than $1 billion. We've created more than 30 in the last decade. And then, we've created roughly three Europe unicorns per year now from Europe, when in the US it's about four. So, it's comparable. And we have great companies which have emerged from Europe. We are now able to build companies, tech leaders in their field, which can actually compete on the international level.</s>QUEST: They can compete, but frequently they don't. And that's as a result -- there's all sorts of reasons, everything from structural to cyclical, the same investment opportunities don't exist. And you're right, sir, there isn't a harmonized rule book. So, do you think the Commission's proposals go far enough?</s>MAZZELLA: Yes, I think it's a very good start. I think it will help not only for the proposals and the study and the legislative proposals that have been done, but it's also in the spirit. And we have to all overcome this complexity. This complexity is also diversity, it's also richness. Because from Europe, when you have to develop with all those cultures, it also makes you more reliable and more ready to make a real international expansion into many, many cultures. Because as you say, when from the start you have to deal with 27 cultures, then you can draw in any other culture on the planet, because you are used to the change, you are used to adapting your labor laws, VAT rules, and you are used to adapting to everything.</s>QUEST: Thank you very much, sir, for joining us. Appreciate you talking to us tonight from Paris. Stock markets in Europe --</s>QUEST: -- had one of those sort of weird sessions. Have a look at the numbers and you'll see exactly -- there were four that were all up. Modest gains over the course, except in Athens, where, of course, you saw the market rising 2.8 percent. There was also factory data across Europe which showed the manufacturing was still expanding. To the US markets and, well, as you see there, they were off the lows of the day, but those lows had occurred quite late into the afternoon. So, a nice sort of early bit of green, but didn't last more than the long -- the length of an April shower. And there was a sell-off as the markets closed down. It momentarily went negative for the year. Overall, the Dow and the S&P were down around half of a percent at the close. Janet Yellen got investors nervous. She said stock values were quite high. And when you heard that, and of course, you see the result. Elections on knife-edge. If there's no conclusive result in the UK, what does it mean for the stability in BRIC? We'll talk about that after the break.