Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
This year the European Union celebrates the 30th anniversary of its single market - one of the main achievements of European integration and one of its main drivers.
  Established on January 1, 1993, the single European market allows goods, services, people and capital to move freely throughout the European Union, making life easier for people and opening up new opportunities for businesses.
The European Commission in Brussels said in a statement on this occasion that over the course of 30 years, the single market has led to unprecedented market integration among the economies of member states, as it has acted as an engine of growth, competitiveness and support for Europe's economic and political strength at the global level. It also played a major role in accelerating the economic development of the new member states that joined the European Union, removing barriers to entry and boosting growth.

More recently, the single market has been essential to helping Europe deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Preserving and strengthening the integrity of the Single Market will remain essential to allow Europe to respond to new challenges in a coordinated manner and to continue to support the competitiveness of European economies.

Thanks to the single market, the European Union has been able to improve the lives of all Europeans including by:

Accelerating the transition to a greener and digital economy: The European Green Deal is the EU's growth strategy. Building on the EU's "Fit For 55" and Digital Decade proposals, the EU is developing a regulatory framework to support green and digital transformations in Europe. The industrial strategy accompanies the EU industry in these transformations. The single market also helps ensure that essential inputs for our business, including critical raw materials and advanced technologies such as semiconductors, continue to be available.
Guarantee of high safety and world-leading technology standards: EU legislation allows consumers to trust that all products in the Single Market are safe and based on high standards of data protection related to the environment, labor, personal data and human rights. These norms and standards are often adopted around the world, giving European companies a competitive advantage and strengthening Europe's global position, while encouraging a race to the top in terms of standards. Today, the European Union is the global standard-setter.
Responding to recent crises with unprecedented speed and determination: Addressing recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the current energy crisis depends on a common and coordinated European approach. During COVID-19, keeping internal borders open and ensuring the smooth functioning of the single market has allowed vaccines, medical equipment and other vital items to reach those in need. Today, Europe's response to the energy crisis is based on the REPowerEU plan, which builds on the power of the EU single market to jointly procure more diversified energy sources and dramatically accelerate the development and deployment of clean and renewable energy. This has already reduced the EU's dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
To ensure that the single market remains a common good for all people in the EU, the Commission is constantly developing it in new areas and ensuring that the rules already in place work in practice. For this purpose, the Commission works closely with the public authorities of the Member States who share the responsibility for the effective application of the rules of the single market.

In December 2022, during the kick-off of the series of events celebrating the 30th anniversary of the single market, the Commission presented an analytical paper on the state of the single market 30 years after its creation and its role as a driver of EU resilience. . In the course of 2023, there will be numerous discussions, exhibitions and campaigns jointly organized with stakeholders across the EU to promote the successes of the single market and engage citizens in discussing its future. In this context, the Commission will issue a communication presenting the important achievements and advantages of the single market, while identifying implementation gaps and future priorities for the single market to continue to play a major role.

The single market was created on January 1, 1993. It followed the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on February 7, 1992. Initially, 12 EU countries formed the single market: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Today, the single market includes 27 member states, in addition to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, with Switzerland partly included.