Presentation by the European Commission of a Package of Initiatives to Strengthen the Single Market

Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Employment, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, and Elżbieta Bieńkowska, member of the European Commission responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, gave a joint press conference on the Single Market Strategy. They presented the roadmap for implementing Jean-Claude Juncker’s, President of the European Commission, political commitment to unleash the full potential of the Single Market and make it the springboard for Europe to thrive in the global economy.
The Single Market was one of Europe’s greatest achievements, designed to allow goods, services, capital and people to move more freely. It offered opportunities for professionals and businesses and greater choices and lower prices for consumers. It allowed people to travel, live, work and study wherever they wished. However, these opportunities were not always realized because the Single Market rules were not known, not implemented or simply jeopardized by unjustified barriers. And the Single Market had to adapt to reflect today’s reality: innovative ideas and new business models also needed to find their place.
Thus, this package of initiatives to strengthen the Single Market aims particularly at encouraging the development of the “collaborative economy”, helping new businesses to grow and facilitating the cross-border provision of services.