18 Apr 2024
Letta report proposes fifth freedom of research, innovation and education
In June 2023, the European Council commissioned Enrico Letta, former President of the Italian Council and President of the Jacques Delors Institute, to prepare a high-level report on the future of the EU's internal market. The report was presented at the European Summit in Brussels on 17- 18 April 2024.
As the global scenario has profoundly changed since the concept of the Single Market was introduced, the report highlights the need to develop a new Single Market. Amongst other things, Enrico Letta proposes a fifth freedom to enhance research, innovation and education in the single market. This would include the freedom of investigating, exploring and creating for the benefit of humankind without disciplinary or artificial borders and limitations. The report also finds that the migration of European talent in search of opportunities outside the EU is severely undermining the Union’s capacity for innovation.
In its conclusions, the report recommends amongst others that the Council should delegate to the European Commission the task of drafting a comprehensive Single Market Strategy. It also states that it would be useful to establish a Permanent Citizens' Conference to inform and support the follow-up to this Report. The Citizens' Conference could liaise with the three main EU institutions and produce recommendations on how to implement the Report.
In its conclusions, the European Council welcomed Enrico Letta’s presentation and invited the current and future Council Presidencies to take work forward on the recommendations therein by the end of the year. Leaders stated that efforts would be needed at both Union and Member State levels and across policy areas to close growth, productivity and innovation gaps between the Union and its international partners and main competitors. Furthermore, they called for fostering a more innovation-friendly environment based on excellent science, which accelerates market uptake and the industrial and commercial scale-up of innovation, while increasing investment in research and development to meet the 3 % GDP expenditure target.
The report can be downloaded here: