Single Market & Competition
Enrico Letta: „Regulatory Simplification is the Best Way to Achieve European Integration“
cepNews
The free movement of goods, services, people and capital: the four fundamental freedoms of the single market date back to a time when the word ‘data’ barely featured in economic vocabulary. Letta sees this as a structural problem: ‘The existing rules no longer reflect the reality of a digital and innovation-driven economy.’ His solution is a ‘fifth freedom’ for research, innovation, data, skills and knowledge. No treaty change is required for this, as the existing EU legal framework already provides sufficient scope.
“Fragmentation directly weakens Europe’s innovative capacity and strategic autonomy,” says Letta. He is aware that ambitious reforms in Brussels often fail due to resistance from Member States. His response to this is deliberately pragmatic: “The key lies in the fact that the 28th regime does not oblige Member States to abandon their national systems.” An optional framework that stands alongside existing systems — not a replacement, but an additional option for companies wishing to scale up across Europe. Precisely because it does not force anyone, Letta considers it realistically achievable.
Behind these specific proposals lies a fundamental question. Today, Europe is dependent on technological solutions from the US or China in many areas. For Letta, digital sovereignty is not achieved through political declarations, but through a functioning digital single market: “When we talk about digital sovereignty, we mean Europe’s ability to deploy its own ‘Made in the EU’ solutions.”
The “fifth freedom” is thus far more than an economic policy instrument. Regulatory simplification, according to Letta, is not an end in itself, but the shortest route to a Europe that shapes the future again rather than merely managing it.