Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta presented his report on the future of the Single Market at the European Council meeting yesterday.

Since last September Enrico Letta had visited dozens of cities in the EU and in the accession countries and held hundreds of talks with a variety of players to prepare the report. The German Federal Government and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action also intensively contributed to the process, e.g. by making proposals for progress on the transformation and for its funding.

In his report, Enrico Letta acknowledges the key role of the European internal market for the EU’s position in the world in view of the growing geopolitical competition.

He identifies the question of how to finance a fair, ecological and digital transformation of the Single Market, the consistent and orderly enlargement of the EU and the expansion of European production capacities of the security and defence industries as overarching priorities for the next legislative term. In addition, he calls for further harmonisation in the energy, digital and financial sectors and the acceleration of the expansion of infrastructures in Europe.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said:

"A strong, well-functioning European internal market is an essential basis for our European companies to survive in the face of global competition. This is the only way to strengthen our position in the field of forward-looking technologies and to anchor standards based on sustainablity and European values at the global level. Letta’s report includes several good proposals for this. The question of how to finance the green transformation is particularly important. It requires enormous private investments, and we need to take new approaches in the EU to mobilise them. I agree with the proposal to interlink the Capital Markets Union and the green and digital transition even more consistently."

In a next step, the Member States will agree on conclusions on the basis of the report, which are to be adopted at the Competitiveness Council on 24 May. The aim is to feed the results of the report by Enrico Letta and the Council conclusions into the next strategic agenda of the European Union.