The Future of the EU Single Market Report – a Critical Review

The Letta Report on the future of the single market is a rich combination of policy proposals and ideas, revolving around the main idea that the EU Single Market needs a renewal. This brief study analyses briefly some of the main proposals of the paper through their economic, political and electoral feasibility and relevance. As correctly identified by the report, a stronger EU Single Market indeed requires better regulatory frameworks and reducing fragmentation, especially in strategic areas such as infrastructure, energy, transport and defence. This requires additional coordination at the EU level, as well as mobilising significant funding, both private and public. Consolidations in the specific economic sectors proposed in the report – telecoms, energy and finance, can raise difficult trade-offs. The fifth freedom to enhance education, research and innovation in the EU is a welcome one, but resembles more a public good and will be politically difficult to explain and obtain.