Enrico Letta on European Union

Enrico Letta is a passionate yet pragmatic European who views the European Union as essential due to the scale required to compete on the modern global stage against larger powers. He has centered his recent high-level report for the European Council on the imperative need to overcome fragmentation to ensure security and competitiveness. Letta argues that the Single Market, while a success, is only half-finished, lacking full integration in key sectors like energy, telecommunications, and financial services, which are currently managed across 27 national dimensions rather than one European one. He stresses that this fragmentation leads to weakness and dependency, preventing the mobilization of necessary private investment for strategic goals.

His framework proposes ambitious steps to realize a true single market, including the creation of a Savings and Investments Union (SIU) to channel domestic household savings into European projects, and the establishment of a '28th Regime'—a unified legal framework for companies operating across all member states. Furthermore, he champions a 'fifth freedom' for the free movement of knowledge, research, skills, and data to foster innovation and combat brain drain by pairing the freedom to move with a 'freedom to stay.' Letta sees this deeper integration as the cornerstone for achieving strategic autonomy, better security, and long-term economic resilience for the bloc.