The Letta report: a set of proposals for revitalising the European economy

Europe is facing a number of major challenges in the near future, including managing the climate transition, the effects of technological transformations and geopolitical changes. European and national authorities are aware that the tools currently in place are insufficient to address these challenges and that a determined reform drive is therefore needed. At the start of a new European institutional cycle, the set of proposals in the Letta report, aimed at completing the Single Market and adapting it to the new circumstances, constitute a major contribution to the European economic policy debate. The most important initiatives include the revitalisation of the capital markets union, the creation of a pan-European State aid scheme based on national contributions, the promulgation of a European code of commercial law as an alternative to the harmonisation of the 27 existing national systems, the incorporation into the Single Market of sectors that have so far been largely outside it (such as energy and telecommunications) or, in the legislative field, the prioritisation of the use of regulations, which are directly applicable in the Member States, over directives, which require transposition into the legal systems of each country. The report’s diagnosis is largely shared by the various national authorities, who also welcomed the main thrust of the proposals. However, it is not difficult to see that the implementation of the latter requires a consensus that, in practice, may be difficult to achieve.