With this conference, the Commission and the Dutch Presidency, in cooperation with the European Parliament, were joining forces with stakeholders to generate momentum at the highest political and business level for ambitious action on the Single Market. The conference has addressed topics set out in the Commission’s Single Market Strategy and in the areas of digital and capital markets.

The conference provided an excellent opportunity to note priorities for action on the Single Market, especially for SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups, and to look ahead at the agenda for implementing the Single Market, to be adopted by the European Council in June.

Promoting jobs, growth and investment was one of the key priorities for the Commission and the Dutch EU Presidency. SMEs, start-ups, and scale-ups are the backbone of the EU economy.

The programme started with in-depth expert workshops, leading up to a high-level plenary session, noting the priorities for action on the Single Market and including the added value of standardisation (with the signing of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation).

Participants were invited to join two of the morning’s expert workshops, to provide real-life guidance for EU institutions and EU countries on priorities for action on the Single Market, starting from the main findings of the 2015-2016 European Commission Single Market Forum workshop series.

The event has ended with a drinks reception.

More information

The Single Market Forum

European standards

SMEs in the EU

Hashtags: #SIMFO #EU2016NL #JointInitiative

Photos (from the Netherlands EU presidency)