The EU internal market (or single market, formerly the common market) seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services and people within the 28 member states.

In the 1980s, the Delors Commission took the initiative to attempt to re-launch the common market, publishing a White Paper in 1985 identifying 300 measures to be addressed in order to complete a single market. The White Paper which was well received and led to the adoption of the Single European Act, a treaty which reformed the decision making mechanisms of the EEC and set a deadline of 31 December 1992 for the completion of a single market.