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If the Greek economy is getting kebbabed by cuts, the future for the rest of us means more souvlaki.

That's my prediction, for what it's worth: one effect of Europe's debt crisis is that Greeks with any get-up-and-go will do precisely that.

They are, after all, a people with a history of migration.

So just as America's diners are dominated by descendants of Greek immigrants, those gap sites on high streets across western Europe could soon see a lot more Greeks bearing culinary skills.

But there's a whole lot more economic change than that hurtling down the Eurostar track from Brussels (where I find myself this week).

Lost beneath the huge weight of a 750bn euro rescue package for indebted EU member states was the publication of a report on the next stage of building an ever-closer single market.

Former commission member Mario Monti has just delivered his recommendations on a re-launch of the single market, 25 years after Jacques Delors set out his vision for it.

He was commissioned to report to the new Commission.

He concluded the single market has become unloved, even treated with "suspicion, fear and sometimes open hostility". And he's got some far-reaching conclusions.

Le shopping

No, hang on, stay with this... it's not just European gobbledygook.

This could come close to home for nearly 500 million of us - as employees, employers, consumers and citizens.

Take e-commerce, for instance. Some 37% of European citizens were shopping online last year, but there remain barriers to shopping across borders; traders who don't want the hassle of different consumer protection regimes, different VAT rates and a lack of confidence in data protection.

The plan is to remove the remaining obstacles to online Euro-e-shopping within two years.

Telecoms and copyright law are highlighted for cross-border co-ordination. There would be fewer national government blocks on takeovers of European companies.

The confusion around re-registering cars in second countries isn't a big concern of Britain's, but it's one area other members could save a lot of money.

There are proposals for cross-border recognition of wills and marriages, of debt recovery procedures, and a European Free Movement Card, with all the information a European citizen would need to live and work in another one.

There's a proposal for government bond issues to be issued centrally, and not just within the eurozone.

That may have come much closer since the weekend, when the giant loan guarantee cheque signed by finance ministers brought much closer alignment - albeit unintentionally - between the debts and obligations of eurozone members.

Gold-plating

And there's a response to British complaints that they rush to implement European directives, while others drag their heels.

The Monti report points out that it is the older members of Europe, and those inside the eurozone, who are the worst offenders.

The time it takes to drag infringements through the courts are now dragging out to an average of 28 months.

It's time to take this "very seriously" if the single market is to be re-launched.

Then there's a very insightful section on employment tax, showing how competition between EU member states has driven down business tax.

One significant result is an increasing reliance on less mobile tax bases.

In Britain and Ireland, that meant property tax and, across the continent, higher labour taxes, such as National Insurance Contributions.

Over the past two decades, the average corporation tax rate fell from 50% to less than 30%. Among the newer EU members, the average is 10 points lower.

The Monti report points out that by 2007, labour taxes accounted for 46% of total tax revenue, whereas tax on corporate income was below 10%.

The average tax rate on corporate income across the EU was 25%, while the average tax rate on labour income ran to 35%.

Open and transparent

So is it time to co-ordinate taxes better, so that they don't penalise job creation?

The report is clear that harmonising tax rates is a non-starter, with the UK to the fore in opposing that.

Signor Monti toys with the idea of bringing VAT closer into line across the union.

But if taxes can be better co-ordinated, that ought to appeal to countries - such as Britain - where it's reckoned that a more open, transparent market ought to bring opportunities for its companies.