To protect the common internal market, the European Commission wants to give companies and EU countries less scope to go it alone in crises such as the corona pandemic.

Specifically, states should be able to ban measures that restrict freedom of travel, or companies can be given binding requirements in extreme cases - for example, to give priority to certain orders, as the Brussels authorities announced on Monday.

"The Covid 19 crisis has made it clear: We must make our internal market work at all times, even in times of crisis," said EU Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager.

A number of countries had reintroduced border controls, especially at the beginning of the pandemic.

Huge traffic jams, for example, sometimes disrupted supply chains.

Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton stressed: "We must be better prepared to anticipate and respond to the next crisis." The EU states and the EU Parliament must now discuss the proposals.

Before they can become binding, both institutions have to negotiate a compromise.

Emergency mode limited to six months

Specifically, there should be three phases: planning, vigilance and emergency.

Coercive measures for companies should only be possible once emergency mode has been declared.

This can be the case, for example, if there have already been serious disruptions to the internal market.

The emergency mode should also be limited to six months.

In the first phase, in addition to planning, exercises should also take place.

In the second phase, stocks of strategically important goods are to be built up, among other things.

In addition, there are plans to monitor supply chains more closely in order to identify possible disruptions at an early stage.

In the emergency mode - which can only be declared in accordance with a majority of EU countries - freedom of movement in the internal market will be maintained by a blacklist of prohibited restrictions, the Commission said.

In this case, the Commission can demand information from companies, which in case of doubt must also be given in a binding manner.

In addition, it can ask companies to give priority to certain orders for goods that are relevant to the crisis.

If a company doesn't have serious reasons why it can't do this, or promises things it later doesn't deliver on, there could also be penalties, Vestager says.

All these steps should be accompanied by an advisory group.

According to the information, this is made up of the Commission and one representative from each of the EU states.

The exact products to which the instrument refers are left open.

With regard to goods and services of strategic importance, for which the creation of stocks can be ordered in phase two, the draft law states: These are goods that cannot be replaced and are essential for the functioning of the internal market in strategically important areas.

Crisis-relevant goods are those that are indispensable in order to react to the crisis or to cope with its effects.

The new instrument should not be applied to products for which there are already EU regulations.

This can be the case with medical goods - in addition, specifications for microchip production, for example, are currently being negotiated.

The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) sees light and shadow in the proposals: According to DIHK President Peter Adrian, the creation of an emergency instrument is the right thing to do.

For him, however, possible production specifications are an encroachment on entrepreneurial freedom.