| dc.description.abstract | The European Union is the world's largest economic and trading area. The EU's unique asset and distinct comparative advantage on the global scene is its internal market, which encompasses over half a billion consumers and more than 20 million companies. Since its inception, the on-going process of improving and expanding the Single Market has gone hand in hand with the development of EU competition policy.Efficiently functioning markets in the EU will bring economic opportunities, improve productivity, drive down costs and boost competitiveness for companies of all sizes. This is key to creating growth and jobs in Europe. In addition, competition-friendly regulation and competition culture create favourable conditions for investments and innovation, which enhances consumer welfare and efficiently functioning markets, enables growth and contributes towards more convergence. Undistorted competition also fosters competitiveness in a global context. A competitive internal market also prepares European companies to succeed on global markets |
