“I don’t propose the Bible but a kit of tools.” Enrico Letta said this when presenting his report on the future of the Single Market to the 27 European leaders. «There is no time to waste, the gap between the EU and the USA is becoming increasingly wider. The possibility of strengthening the Single Market opens up to eliminate fragmentation starting from the three points left behind: energy, telecommunications and financial markets”. The main proposal put forward by the former prime minister is to integrate these three pillars to relaunch European competitiveness and keep up with the challenges of the future. He proposes to build an integrated financial market with common rules and supervision, with the aim of overcoming internal barriers and avoiding divisions that have persisted for years.
«My enemy is the drawer»
A document of over 147 pages. A conversation lasting over two hours during which Letta urged European leaders to run. «When we launched the single market the world was totally different, the USSR was still there and India and China were worth 5% of global GDP». It’s time to intervene quickly: “the objective is that this report does not end up in the drawer” as happened to the one presented in 2010 by Mario Monti. «I took many cues from it, it’s a beautiful relationship. In 14 years of the European Union the member states have not wanted to apply some of these recommendations so today we have to really push because there is a disconnect.” The former prime minister refers to fragmented national tax systems; to distinct national markets in financial services, energy and transport and to different regulations in Member States.
Helping small and medium-sized businesses
«The Single Market must speak to all European citizens. SMEs don’t exploit it because they are small.” Letta proposes to speed up the process, without intervening on the treaties because it would be long and complicated but by creating a safe assets unified by centralizing all EU bond issues and favoring common debt issues. In this way it would be possible to ease the pressure on aid to small and medium-sized enterprises. The proposal, which has met with opposition in recent years, has now become a necessary step, provides that the member countries of the Union can allocate a part of their national financing to pan-European investments.
«Industrial disaster» in the telecommunications field
There are only three major telecommunications operators in the United States. In the European Union over one hundred operators work with different standards and systems in the 27 member countries. It is necessary to find a “compromise” to promote the development of the Union while guaranteeing competitiveness. The gap that has been created with the great world powers has exceeded the limit and if immediate action is not taken, if “the last opportunity to act” is not seized, the consequences could definitively condemn the EU to non-competitiveness in world market scenarios .
Increase weapons production
Finally, a reference to single defence, especially in industrial terms. Letta considers it shameful that «of all the military supplies sent by European countries to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, 78% were purchased from non-European producers». The USA, on the other hand, invested 80% of its expenditure in the purchase of American products. According to the former Prime Minister, this is proof of the fragmentation of European industry and of the divisions that impede the Union’s competitiveness with China and the United States. Funding over the past thirty years has been insufficient. As a result, weapons production was limited and reliance was placed on imports. Coordinating the production of the arms industry at a pan-European level would increase the competitiveness and security of the Union.
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