The Diplomat in Spain

SUMMARY

Enrique Viguera

From time to time, the heads of state and government, the European Commission or the European Parliament itself commission a report from a prominent political figure or an expert of recognised prestige on some specific aspect of the EU reality in order to have a critical view of the moment and to have a better criterion on where Europe should move forward. Normally this personality coordinates the Report, which is drawn up by a group of experts.

In fact, almost all of the great achievements of European integration have been the result of the visions of prominent politicians who have made concrete proposals in reports, although they are not usually so original, given that many of these ideas come from different sources, including the institutions themselves. However, the prestige and authority of their author multiply their publicity and political impact.

Without going back to the beginnings of integration, where we find Schuman, Monnet or Spaak -capitals in the creation of the ECSC and the EEC-, the ‘Werner Report’ (1970), former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, proposing the EMU and the single currency, although it would not be implemented immediately, are well known; The ‘Cechini Report’ (1988), fundamental for the creation of the Single Market; the reports by Delors (1989, 1993 and 1995), former President of the Commission, on EMU, the ECB, the Euro and the future of the EU; and the ‘Westendorp Report’ (2002), to mention just one Spaniard, on the neighbourhood policy.

But dozens of reports of this type have been written since the creation of the European Communities to date, some of which have gone down in the history of the EU without much success when it comes to implementing their recommendations, for example by raising controversial issues without sufficient consensus among member states, such as the ‘Sapir Report’ of 2003, or overly ambitious proposals, such as the ‘Bolkestein Report’ (2004) on the liberalisation of services.

We have now received a report by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, which was presented and discussed a few weeks ago at the same European Council, entitled ‘Much more than a market’, in which he highlights the central role of the internal market in the European integration project and its need for reform. In short, it argues for greater integration in sectors that were deliberately left out of the Community process because they are of a strategic nature: energy, telecommunications, finance (and defence).

In essence, the ‘Letta report’ could be seen as a continuation of Mario Monti’s report of 2010, which also called for further integration in the first three areas. So it is raining on wet ground and Letta’s new proposals in this direction, more adapted to the present moment, only corroborate the urgent need for reform of some aspects of the internal market, which were already being considered, to a large extent, two lustrums ago.

Soon, in July, a new report will be published, this one by Mario Draghi, former president of the ECB and also former Italian prime minister, on competition, of which we only know a summary of its contents, revealed by its author himself at a recent conference in Brussels, but which has not yet seen the light of day. It is curious that three of Italy’s former prime ministers – all three are candidates to succeed Belgium’s Louis Michel as president of the European Council – insist on the need for reform of the EU’s internal market. The new European legislature that opens in the coming months will be fundamental for pushing some of these fundamental issues of European integration, and in this sense, it seems that these reports constitute a catalogue of intentions, a real government project.

According to Letta, the Internal Market is the EU’s most important achievement and it is not simply a technical but a political achievement. But the world has changed and the Single Market must be adapted to the new reality. It needs to be pushed forward because inaction makes it lose momentum. Fragmentation is becoming entrenched and reforms are more difficult because it is not being applied in all sectors. The complexity of the legal system has increased with 27 Member States and convergence of national laws or mutual recognition are too slow or insufficient mechanisms to benefit from economies of scale. The principle of ‘non-regression’ in the Internal Market needs to be reaffirmed by improving procedures to enforce its rules. Maximum harmonisation is needed, coupled with the principle of mutual recognition, and preferential use of the Regulation.

There are recommendations to suit everyone’s tastes: some seem to be largely in line with industry’s own proposals, as in telecommunications; others are very topical, arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and are already starting to be implemented, such as those in the defence field, such as increased EU defence budget support (R&D, common procurement, etc.) and the creation of a common market for the defence industry. But there are also more controversial ones, such as the creation of a fund to compensate for the effects of enlargement.

I was particularly interested in the reforms he proposes in the energy sector, a relatively less integrated sector – although there has been considerable cooperation generated in part to manage Europe’s response to climate change, energy transition and Russia’s energy independence – given the suspicions of member states to leave the issues most related to their sovereignty, such as energy, in the hands of others. In this respect, Letta, without wishing to affect the sovereign right of each state to choose its own energy mix, believes that it is necessary and possible to adopt a more strategic vision, implementing integration measures that will allow for a more secure and sustainable European energy system. Among the measures he proposes are: significantly increasing interconnections through the EU budget, including by creating a new fund – by the way, this is something that has been talked about and discussed in the EU for decades and which Draghi also insists on a lot -; create in 2027 a clean energy supply agency, which could manage incentive and investment programmes by encouraging interconnections and generally guide Europe’s transition to net zero emissions; establish in 2027 a clean energy deployment fund to facilitate investments in ‘net zero’ technologies. In the end, he is right to warn that maintaining global leadership on climate change, managing the required supply shifts or the entry into force of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will require a great diplomatic effort with many of the countries around us, including the African continent.

ENRIQUE VIGUERA

Ambassador of Spain

Born on 6 April 1953, Enrique Viguera holds a degree in Law from the University of Seville and entered the diplomatic service in 1982. He was posted to Ethiopia and Canada and was Deputy Director General for Sub-Saharan Africa, but much of his career has been spent in posts related to the European Union. He was posted as Counsellor in the Permanent Representation of Spain in Brussels, was Deputy Director General of General Affairs for the EU and, later, between 2004 and 2006, Director General of Coordination of General and Technical Affairs of the EU and Director General of Integration and Coordination of General and Economic Affairs of the EU.

He has also been Spanish Ambassador to Sweden (2006-2010), to Australia (2011-2015) and to Greece (2017-2021), as well as Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Affairs. Between 2015 and 2017 he was Director of the Diplomatic School and, in February 2023, he was promoted to the professional category of Ambassador.