Archive:Economy and finance statistics introduced
Economic and social progress and constant improvements in living and working conditions are fundamental objectives for the European Union. Over the last five decades, policy-makers have strived to improve economic integration by removing barriers to the free movement of goods, services, money and people with the goal of creating more jobs and economic growth. Much has been achieved, such as the customs union, followed by the single market and, more recently, economic and monetary union.
According to a European Commission policy overview, the single market has created several million new jobs since 1993 and generated more than EUR 800 billion in extra wealth, through abolishing tariffs and quotas, as well as technical and administrative obstacles to free trade.
It is now easier to travel across the EU’s internal frontiers and citizens and businesses are able to order a wide range of products from all over the EU with confidence. The creation of the single market has increased incentives to liberalize previously protected national monopolies for utilities, such as telecommunications, electricity, gas and water. As a result, many households and enterprises across Europe are increasingly able to choose who supplies them with utility services. However, there remain some areas, for example in relation to financial services and transportation, where separate national markets still exist.
In 1986, the EU signed the Single European Act. The chief objective of this act was to add new momentum to the process of constructing and completing the internal market. Since 1993, the European single market has strongly enhanced the possibilities for people, goods, services and money to move around Europe as freely as within a single country. These freedoms, foreseen from the outset of the European undertaking in the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community of 1957 have been designed to:
- allow individuals the right to live, work, study or retire in another Member State;
- increase competition leading to lower prices, a wider choice of things to buy and higher levels of protection for consumers;
- make it easier and cheaper for businesses to interact across borders.
In March 2000, EU heads of state and government agreed the Lisbon Strategy, designed to stimulate growth and create more and better jobs. In 2005, the Council of Ministers and European Parliament of the EU adopted the ’Integrated guidelines package’ which was a road map for spurring growth and creating jobs in a socially cohesive and environmentally responsible EU during the period 2005 to 2008. This package represents a comprehensive strategy of macroeconomic, microeconomic and employment policies. Under the package, Member States draw up national reform programmes, using the tax and social welfare policy mix they think best suits their own national circumstances.
To help European and national policy-makers and other stakeholders, Eurostat collects and collates a very wide range of economic and financial data that, for example, monitor activity in the single market or track progress towards the attainment of the Lisbon Strategy objectives.
Further Eurostat information
Dedicated sections
- National accounts (including GDP)
- ESA 95 Input-Output tables
- European sector accounts
- Government finance statistics
- Financial accounts
- Exchange rates
- Interest rates
- Monetary and other financial statistics
- Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP)
- Purchasing power parities (PPPs)
- Balance of payments
See also
All articles on economy and finance