EESC CORNER: THE FUTURE EUROPEAN SINGLE MARKET NEEDS A NEW GEOPOLITICAL FOCUS

The strategic rethinking of the EU single market is now a necessity. The world is not the same as it was 30 years ago – the single market needs to be adapted to the new international landscape, former head of the Italian government Enrico Letta said at the EESC plenary session debate on 20 March 2024.

Presenting the key idea behind his High-Level Report on the Future of the Single Market, Mr Letta, the current president of the Jacques Delors Institute, stressed that the future single market needed to have a geopolitical approach and focus on Europe’s strategic autonomy and pillars such as defence, telecommunications, energy and finance.

‘The geopolitical landscape is now totally different to what it was 30 years ago. The mission today is to consider what consequences the new world scenario has for the single market and its future. We need to have a new approach and include matters such as defence and enlargement,’ he said.

EESC president Oliver Röpke stressed that the success of the single market could not just be measured in economic terms, but must also mirror European citizens’ hopes and wellbeing: ‘At the EESC, we believe that the single market is fundamentally about people – and the right to move also means the freedom to stay.’

Mr Letta pointed out that the single market was both about people and for people. Economic competitiveness had to go hand in hand with social protection, and the freedom to move and the right to stay were part of the same freedom: ‘Brain drain is having a devastating impact in some countries. We have to address the freedom to stay and freedom to come back. Today it is a one-way ticket only, and this is affecting competitiveness and creating a big problem in Europe.’