The European Single Market is founded on the principle of free movement. Yet, as is often the case, the greatest obstacles to this freedom are not physical borders, but the persistent, self-serving red tape of national bureaucracies.

A prime example is the current debate in Finland. While Estonia, Germany, Italy, and most of the West issue 10-year passports, the Finnish authorities (DVV) cling to a 5-year limit, citing “security concerns” that their peers across the Baltic Sea apparently managed to solve years ago. If you read Finnish here is a link.

The Absurdity of Divergent Rules
Consider the logic: Spain recently moved to regularize 500,000 migrants. Once these individuals eventually obtain Spanish citizenship, they will hold 10-year EU passports, allowing them total mobility across the Schengen area. Meanwhile, a citizen in Helsinki must navigate the costs and hurdles of identity verification twice as often.

Where is the “Single” in our Single Market when document validity remains a fragmented tool for national agencies to justify their own staffing levels?

A Thatcherite Solution
“The state has no limits to its appetite for other people’s time and money.” If the European Commission truly wishes to foster mobility, it should focus less on “woke” social engineering and more on harmonizing the practicalities of citizenship documents.

We do not need more centralized control; we need a commitment to efficiency. If 10 years is sufficient for a citizen in Tallinn or Berlin, it is sufficient for a citizen in Helsinki. It is time to stop measuring bureaucratic success by the number of applications processed and start measuring it by the freedom of the individual to move without unnecessary state intervention.