EconPol Forum 05/2023: Thirty Years of the European Single Market ‒ Achievements and Future Challenges

In 1993, the European Single Market was created with the aim of enabling the free movement of goods, services and capital. It has created jobs and fostered growth and prosperity across the EU. Today, the European Single Market is the EU’s driving force in addressing new challenges such as combating climate change, building a clean and secure energy supply, and supporting the innovation and digitalization of the European economy. The 30th anniversary of the European Single Market provides an opportunity to celebrate its successes and review what is yet to be achieved. Indeed, the global financial crisis (2008), the euro crisis (2010), Brexit, the Covid-19 crisis (2020/21), and the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (2022) have disrupted its positive evolution. This issue of EconPol Forum addresses important aspects of the role of the European Single Market in a new geo-political era. Our authors also take a critical look at the main current challenges facing the EU.

In the future, the European Single Market will play a decisive role in setting a framework of reliable social standards and common goals. It will ensure Europe’s resilience by helping companies adapt their supply chains to future risks and find new business opportunities. The concrete measures of social policy will be left to the member states.

In “Economic Policies and Their Impacts,” our authors exa-mine how fiscal policy measures mitigated the effects of the Covid-19 crisis in Germany. “Institutions Around the World” looks at what it means when the votes of emigrants are missing in sender country elections. Finally, in “Big-Data-Based Eco-nomic Insights,” we show how the automated mitigation procedures can be improved to reduce mar-ket power abuse in electricity markets.