EU single market prepares to celebrate its 30th birthday

The European Union’s single market celebrates its 30th birthday in 2023. 

An economic milestone, it changed lives for businesses and for people right across the continent and is continuing to do so today.

Goods, services and money can easily move around one of the world's largest economies. 

And so can we. You can go abroad and live, study or retire there.

We can buy things online without geographical restrictions and return or cancel them, no questions asked.

Phone calls are cheaper and so are airfares. There are no customs, tariffs or taxes for businesses buying and selling in the EU. Products have the same safety and environmental standards.

The EU has greater clout to negotiate trade agreements with the rest of the world.

But the single market isn't static, it evolves as the economy changes. 

Kerstin Jorna is the European Commission's Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

"It feels like being in the single market base camp," she says. "Because there’s the health crisis - COVID is still around - there is the energy crisis, following the Russian aggression. And this is really where we are and what we are focussing on by leveraging the single market.

"Health: we need vaccines, we had none when this started and by working together by buying the vaccines together, by building a full industrial supply chain for vaccines, I am confident we will have enough vaccines for our citizens and citizens around the world.

"The second point is the energy system. We have to wean ourselves off Russian fossil fuel and there are two ways the single market can help: number one we can procure and work together to procure the energy that we need. And the second is that we accelerate together the role of renewable