Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“Starting in 1993, a small business owner in any EU member state could sell to another member state without having to face new bureaucratic or financial barriers at every border. The potential size of a new business was no longer determined by the size of the country where it was based. Today, the European Commission estimates that the Single Market has increased the European Union’s GDP by 3–4% and created 3.6 million jobs since its creation. A study by Bertelsmann Stiftung estimated that integration increases European citizens’ incomes by an average of about €840 ($974) per person per year. Yet the benefits created by this integration, and the freedom that made these benefits possible, began to come under threat on August 12, 2026, quietly and through an apparently harmless packaging regulation.” (08/24/26)
https://fee.org/articles/europe-built-a-single-market-now-its-packaging-it-away/