The Single Market Programme is the EU funding programme to help the single market reach its full potential. The single market has been at the heart of the EU for nearly 3 decades. It enables citizens to live, work and travel wherever they wish within the EU, and offers consumers protection and greater choice of high-quality products and services at lower prices. Through legal certainty, access to markets and financial services, investment opportunities and access to funding, the single market is also a launch pad for companies. The pandemic showed that the single market is yet to materialise in a number of areas and can improve in others, and that a well-functioning single market is crucial for the resilience of the economy. The Single Market Programme pools crucial activities financed under several previous programmes. It will provide a more coherent and agile financing framework to support the following key objectives: - food safety;
- consumer protection;
- support to small and medium-sized businesses;
- a more effective single market;
- high quality European statistics;
- effective European standards.
With €4.2 billion over the period of 2021-2027, it provides an integrated package to support and strengthen the governance of the single market. Moreover, it aims to provide EU countries with the tools to recover and repair from the Covid-19 crisis. The final objective is to make the single market stronger and more resilient. The Single Market programme focuses on the following main areas of action: - improve the governance of the internal market;
- strengthen the competitiveness of EU industry especially SMEs;
- promote human, animal, plant health and animal welfare;
- establish the framework for European statistics.
The Single Market Programme is open to many types of organisations, including SMEs, private and public entities, although eligibility varies from one action to another and from one country to another. | 
