EU single market
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The EU single market, internal market or common market is a single market comprising the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) as well as – with certain exceptions – Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and Switzerland through sectoral treaties. The EU single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people, known collectively as the "four freedoms". This is achieved through common rules and standards that all the EU member states are legally committed to following.[1]
A number of potential EU accession candidates have stabilisation and association agreements with the EU, which allow for limited participation in selected sectors of the single market, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. In addition, through three individual agreements on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU, the post-Soviet countries of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have also been granted limited access to the single market in selected sectors. Turkey has access to the free movement of some goods via its membership in the European Union–Turkey Customs Union. The United Kingdom left the EU single market on 31 December 2020. An agreement was reached between the UK Government and European Commission to align Northern Ireland on rules for goods with the EU single market, to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland.[2]
The market is intended to increase competition, labour specialisation, and economies of scale, allowing goods and factors of production to move to the area where they are most valued, thus improving the efficiency of the allocation of resources. It is also intended to drive economic integration whereby the once separate economies of the member states become integrated within a single EU-wide economy. The creation of the internal market as a seamless, single market is an ongoing process, with the integration of the service industry still containing gaps. According to a 2019 estimate, because of the single market the GDP of member countries is on average 9 percent higher than it would be if tariff and non-tariff restrictions were in place.[3]
Four Freedoms
The "Four Freedoms" of the single market are:
- Free movement of goods
- Free movement of capital
- Freedom to establish and provide services
- Free movement of people[4]
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Britain didn’t vote Labour just to get a new iron chancellor | Article | 4 August 2024 | William Keegan | The economic damage wrought by Brexit continues. Our investment and growth prospects would benefit enormously if Starmer and Reeves abandoned this policy of “no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement”. I repeat what I have said before: the Labour manifesto commits it to removing unnecessary barriers to trade. But Brexit is the most formidable barrier of all! |
| Document:Sunak likes the single market. So why doesn't Labour? | Article | 5 March 2023 | William Keegan | "I had many criticisms of Thatcherism and its impact on unemployment and social harmony, but one thing Margaret Thatcher got right was the importance of the EU single market and attracting Japanese, German and other firms to the UK. All this is now up for grabs by Starmer and his team." |
References
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