Twenty years after the completion of the EU’s single market programme, member states have still not eliminated all barriers to trade

The single market programme, launched by the European Commission in a 1985 white paper, put 1992 as a deadline for the completion of the single market. As Michelle Egan writes, twenty years on from the original 1992 deadline there still remain significant regulatory barriers between member states. While the Commission has proposed a number of new reforms to deepen the single market, the reforms will only be effective if they are fully embraced by member states.