“The Single Market still has enormous unused potential for instance in the field of services. It has too many obstacles in some areas and insufficient enforcement in others.

There was a deep discussion about this in the last European Council and I want to say that this was the first time for many years I have been participating now in the European Council, that I have seen at Heads of State and Government level such a deep discussion about the importance of going on with exploiting the full potential of our Single Market.

On Monday, Heads of State and Government agreed with the Commission's proposal to fast-track the Single Market Act this year, and to complete the Digital Single Market by 2015.

The Commission estimates that the reforms we have proposed on, for instance services, facilitating access to venture capital, the European patent (that I hope will be very soon solved), and public procurement, could boost European Union GDP by 3% by 2020.

In fact, Europe's future growth prospects depend on a rules-based Single Market that fosters openness and innovation.

Healthy and competitive markets stimulate entrepreneurship and encourage companies to be innovative – to create new products and services that meet demand. In turn, this helps to create jobs among successful players, triggers more competitive prices and gives consumers a wider choice of products and services.

That is why innovation is a cornerstone of our growth agenda - because it is about more than product development.

It is about the way our society changes and improves. It is about the way we do business. It is about turning new ideas into growth for our companies, jobs for our citizens and well-being for our societies. “

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