Enrico Letta (Pisa, 1966) was Italian Prime Minister between 2013 and 2014, and then returned to the political front line of his country leading the Democratic Party (PD) until he took a step back after losing the last elections to Giorgia Meloni . He is now president of the Jacques Delors Institute and is touring Europe to carry out a report, commissioned by the European Council, on the future of the single market. This mission takes him today to Barcelona, where he will learn the opinion of various economic sectors at an event at Foment del Treball.
Where is Europe at?
Europe is facing the last call. We need to understand that the growth of the giants around us is such that either there is finally complete European integration, or we will disappear. We have a few years ahead of us to do some things we haven't done yet. That is why I believe that the next legislature will be the decisive one for final integration and must serve to resolve a series of problems that we have allowed to drag on over time and that make Europe a fragmented and at-risk continent. When I say that it is the last call I say that we should not unite only when the fire arrives, which is something that has happened in recent years.
It happened with the pandemic and Russian aggression in Ukraine, but after...
As soon as it happens, everyone goes on their own. If everyone goes on their own we will be totally irrelevant. In the world before, which was a small world, all European countries were big countries. In today's big world, all European countries are medium or small countries. This is the main theme. And if we do not understand that integration is essential to resist the Chinese, the Indians, the BRICS... The American Inflation Reduction Act shows us that the Americans are also very aggressive in the field of manufacturing industry.
In this latest crisis in Israel we have seen how divided Europe is.
Absolutely. We do not realize that if we go to the UN with three different positions we condemn ourselves to irrelevance and this means that it will be others who decide. This problem of the division of Europe has become enormous and we will pay the price. Until now we had managed to be the regulators of the world.
What is the objective of your report on the single market?
I start from what I will talk about this Monday in Barcelona with the social agents, with the large Catalan and Spanish companies: verifying the barriers that exist in the single market, something incredible. In the field of telecommunications, banks, finance, and energy, it is not possible to build large global subjects. For example, in the field of telephony, each Chinese operator has an average of 400 million users, each American 100 million users, while the Europeans have 5 million users. The same goes for the banks, they are all small compared to the large American banks. Or in energy, in the end we are small except for some rare exceptions such as in Spain and Italy, where there was the merger between Enel and Endesa. My report aims to provide an impetus to complete the single market, which today is not complete, is full of fragmentations and obstacles.
The single market has not been completed but we are facing the challenge of European enlargement. We are prepared?
I believe that we are not prepared for enlargement for many reasons. To begin with, because we have internal unanimity rules that give the right to veto. The idea of giving veto rights to those who enter the EU on important decisions seems crazy to me. We are also not prepared from the point of view of the single market. I am in favor of enlargement, it must be done because the Ukrainian people are paying in blood for joining Europe, but this enlargement must be done well.
Could the next European legislature be the one that overcomes unanimity?
It must be, absolutely. In my opinion, it will go down in history as the one that removes the right of veto and overcomes unanimity. There are many methods by which it can be done. I believe that it should be withdrawn and decisions made by qualified majority. But there is also a middle ground, such as moving to a collective veto, that is, three countries can set a veto and not just one. This may make sense because the veto is never imposed for reasons of general interest, not even for national interests. In recent years it has always been used as blackmail to obtain something about another dossier. The collective veto eliminates the blackmail rule, and it would be a step forward.
Energy autonomy is another great pending issue.
This is part of the work I am doing. We, Europeans, have lived in recent decades thinking we can live being dependent on energy, technology and security. We have entrusted the Americans with our security, the Russians and Arabs with our energy, and the Chinese with our technology. The report I am beginning to write must be one by which we move towards greater independence. I'm not afraid to use the word strong. Europe must be a power, but at the same time we cannot break the four freedoms of the internal market and only carry out classic industrial policies of the old states. For example, in the field of energy the single market must be completed and a more robust and interconnected energy system must be achieved. It is scandalous that there are no interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and France.
And how is this stronger voice achieved?
The sense of urgency forces us to think about this. We do not have more time, we must do it quickly, because the Indians and the Chinese are so strong and important that the only way for us is to have a single voice, as happened in the purchase of vaccines.
How do you assess that Pedro Sánchez has managed to be re-elected president of the Government?
I am a friend and support Sánchez, I think he is a great pro-European and the Spanish presidency has played an important role in fundamental issues such as energy or digital. He is a great European leader.
