27 October 2023
In September 2023, the Belgian Presidency of the European Council appointed the former Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, to draft a Report on the future of the Single Market ("High-Level Report on the future of the Single Market").
The Single Market is one of the main assets of the European Union, a common source of wealth. It guarantees the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital, eliminating internal borders and regulatory barriers to internal trade. In 30 years, it has become the world’s largest single market and the world’s most integrated transnational market, bringing with it many economic and social benefits: 447 million European citizens benefit from it and 17 million work or live in an EU country other than their own; it includes 23 million companies whose total GDP exceeds 14,552 billion euros.
Thirty years after its inception and in an increasingly conflicting, volatile and complex world, the Single Market is revealing many weaknesses, which make it appropriate to rethink its strategy. "The single market is the cornerstone of the European project, but is going through dangerous times, in the grip of two great challenges", said Letta in an interview with Le Monde. Its efficacy is undermined, on the one hand, by geostrategic changes (primarily, the rise of new powers such as China and India) and by national intervention to protect industrial competitiveness, and on the other hand, the proliferation of state aid and derogations from European rules resulting from the three years of crisis that we have just gone through, among the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and energy crisis.
In light of his new role, President Letta invited TEHA's Business Communities (TEHA Club and TEHA Club Europe) to share their experiences with the Market and to outline recommendations and proposals for its improvement, functional to further substantiate the High-level report.
In order to promote concrete changes on aspects that impact the activities of the companies that operate daily in the Single Market, TEHA Club and TEHA Club Europe have therefore launched a project entitled "The future of the European Single Market", which will go from October 2023 to February 2024, and will be addressed by a Steering Committee of top executive members of TEHA's CEO community. The results will be summarised in a strategic paper to be shared with the Rapporteur by February 2024.
For further information on this initiative, please get in touch with:
Sara Lelli (TEHA Club, Milan) sara.lelli@ambrosetti.eu
Laura Basagni (TEHA Club Europe, Bruxelles) laura.basagni@ambrosetti.eu