A single, borderless internal market
The EU aims to enable EU citizens to study, live, shop, work and retire in any EU country and enjoy products from all over Europe. To this end, it ensures free movement of goods, services, capital, and people within a single EU internal market. By removing technical, legal, and bureaucratic barriers, the EU also allows citizens to trade and do business freely.
The EU is also building a capital markets union, aiming to make it easier for small businesses to raise money and make Europe a more attractive place in which to invest. In addition, the digital single market will digitise the EU's single market freedoms, with EU-wide rules for telecommunications services, copyright, and data protection.
There are still some barriers in the single market and the EU is working towards greater harmonisation:
_ fragmented national tax systems
_ separate national markets for financial services, energy, and transport
_ varying e-commerce rules, standards, and practices between EU countries
_ complicated rules on the recognition of professional qualifications
