Productivity, competitiveness and the internal market

A critical analysis of the Letta and Draghi reports

Abstract

Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi produced two reports on the future of the European Union.
They stress a worrying decline in productivity and competitiveness compared to the United States and
China, as well as inefficiencies within the Internal Market. They analyse the causes of this situation and
propose measures that essentially consist of deepening in the Single Market integration, creating European
champions, closing the technological gap, combining the green transition with increased competitiveness,
and reducing dependencies on third parties. The viability of these measures raises doubts. Politically,
achieving a consensus will be extremely difficult. Legally, it faces the problem of the principle of
competence allocation. Economically, securing the necessary financing poses risks to fiscal
sustainability.