About 2.5 million jobs have been created in the EU since the opening up of frontiers on January 1st, 1993, according to a new EU report.
In a statement issued this morning, EU internal market commissioner, Mr Frits Bolkestein, said the EU's GDP in 2002 was 1.8 percentage points, - €164.5 billion - higher than it would be had economic frontiers not been removed.
Additional prosperity to the value of €877 billion over ten years - calculated by adding together the additional annual GDP of member countries - was also generated since the idea of an internal market was first implemented in 1992.
The report also says 2.5 million extra jobs have been created since 1993.
Per household, Mr Bolkestein added, each household in Europe was on average €5,700 better off than it would be had frontiers remained closed.
This morning's figures were published by the European Commission as part of The Internal Market: Ten Years without Frontiersreport, a round-up of the achievements of the internal market in the decade since the borders came down in Europe
The report also looks forward and highlights areas where, it says, the full potential of the internal market is as yet untapped.
It also warns that after enlargement in May 2004, it will be harder to remove trade barriers in a union of 25 member states.