European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has launched the Single Market Act, designed to reinvigorate the single market, which will be 20 years old next year.
The commission has announced a range of measures designed to remove obstacles from the market, which it says are hampering jobs and growth.
The Single European Market for goods and services was created in 1992.
The Commission says it has been a clear success, with 21m European companies employing 175m people, all supplying goods and services for 500m consumers.
But the Commission says it should be deepened and improved because globalisation and technology have altered the landscape, and because the financial crisis of 2008 requires the single market to deliver more by way of jobs and growth.
10% of Europeans are unemployed, which amounts to 23m workers in all.
The Single European Act is comprised of 12 key actions to reinvigorate the single market and guide it towards its potential.
They include among others making cross border e-commerce easier for both companies and consumers, opening up protected professions, better recognition of educational qualifications, and strengthening the directive which allows workers from one member state to work in another.
The latter will be a sensitive area, dealing with questions over so-called wage dumping and the right of workers to take collective action.
President Barroso said social rights would be protected on a case-by-case basis.
