In 2012, the EU celebrated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Single European Market. The combination of all the European markets into a single one has been a highly successful project.Today the EU market is a huge and is comparable to the US market. As a single entity Europe is also able to not only compete with the U.S. but also against rising economies such as China, Brazil, India, etc. For example, Airbus Group N.V. (EADSY) is able to compete against US-based The Boeing Company (BA) effectively in the global marketplace.Without the single market this would not have been possible.

A few years ago during the sovereign debt crisis in Greece and other countries it seemed that this successful project would come to an end. However fortunately the European Union did not break up and continues to move forward.

The following is a cool infographic I came across at Deutsche Bank Research site:

Source: Deutsche Bank Research

A pdf document listing the main achievements of the Single European Market can be found here. Additional details on the Single European Market is available at the European Commission site.

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