Timing is key. Europe must prove that Europe can act, not just react. Enrico Letta is a former prime minister of Italy and now president of the Institut Jacques Delors. He is also Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs at IE University. In a world reshaped by Trump and by the accelerating logic of geopolitical competition, Europe needs an answer that is both realistic and ambitious. The strongest response the EU can offer is to complete the single market. For decades, it has been Europe’s strongest asset, the backbone of our prosperity, and increasingly the cornerstone of our sovereignty. And yet, in the areas that matter most, we still do not have one market. We have the sum of 27 national markets. This fragmentation is not a technical flaw. It is a political and strategic weakness. We pay for it in higher costs, weaker investment, slower innovation, and reduced capacity to act in the world. Europe’s problem is not diagnosis. The problem is speed, ownership and political commitment. This is why we need a bold political commitment to strengthen and complete the single market. We need an agreement that creates a fast track for the steps required to complete it, endorsed by the presidents of the EU institutions. It should have a name that matches its ambition: the One Market Act. In 1992, Europe moved from a common market to a single market. Now we need the next step: one market. This is not about treaty change. The actions we need are already possible under the existing framework. We can act immediately. The tools are there; what Europe needs is execution. The One Market Act should focus on a limited package of true game-changers. Not dozens of files. A small number of priorities, chosen because they reinforce each other and strike at the heart of fragmentation. Three priorities are sectoral. The first is financial services. Europe’s public budgets are constrained, but Europe holds vast private savings. A true savings and investments union is how we can channel capital into European companies, strengthen our industrial base, and support the international role of the euro. The second is energy. Without stronger interconnections, Europe will remain exposed to bottlenecks, volatility and avoidable costs. Completing the energy union is not only a climate priority. It is a competitiveness and security priority. The third is connectivity. Europe cannot claim technological sovereignty while its telecom sector remains weak and fragmented. This requires swift delivery on the Digital Networks Act, and the political courage to enable investment and consolidation at continental scale. But a modern single market also depends on horizontal enablers. The Fifth Freedom is essential: the free flow of knowledge, data, research and skills. Without it, Europe will keep paying the strategic cost of non-innovation. The same logic applies to the 28th regime. Europe does not lack ideas and talent. It lacks a framework that allows companies to scale across borders with simplicity. A truly European company regime would keep investment and ambition in Europe. Finally, the single market will only remain politically sustainable if it protects the freedom to stay. Mobility must remain a choice, not an obligation. A stronger market must go hand in hand with cohesion, essential services, SMEs and a robust social dimension. This cannot become another long-term strategy. Europe needs a final deadline, 2028, and intermediate milestones in 2026 and 2027. Timing is key. Europe must prove that Europe can act, not just react.We need the One Market Act.

Enrico Letta is president of the Jacques Delors Institute and a former prime minister of Italy. Pascal Lamy is vice-president of the Paris Peace Forum and a former European commissioner for Trade. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is co-chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and a former president of Croatia. They are all members of the Governing Board of the new Jacques Delors Friends of Europe Foundation. For too long, the European project has been treated like an à la carte menu. Leaders cherry-pick advantages, blame Brussels for the compromises they’ve accepted, and leave citizens to bear the consequences of watered-down decisions and years-long delays. This habit of the political dodge, of agreeing in public and unraveling at home, has dented public trust, and it must stop. By 2028, Europe must complete the single market — not in slogans but in the concrete areas that shape everyday life, like energy, telecommunications, savings and investments, and the free circulation of knowledge and innovation. A real single market in these fields will deliver tangible benefits for citizens: Harmonized energy markets mean cross-border trade of electricity and gas, stabilized supplies and lower bills when markets work properly. Unified telecoms will reduce roaming and domestic price monopolies, improve service and widen access. Integrated capital markets will give savers better returns, channel funds to growing firms and make loans cheaper for small businesses. And removing barriers to research and data flows will allow students, scientists and entrepreneurs to collaborate and scale up without coming up against national borders. In short: more choice, lower costs, better opportunities and faster innovation. Alongside these priorities, Europe must also adopt what Enrico Letta and others call the “28th regime” — a mechanism that allows individuals and businesses to operate under uniform EU standards when national rules obstruct progress. Voluntary pioneers shouldn’t be hostage to vetoes from lone capitals. Where national foot-dragging denies benefits to citizens elsewhere, European law should offer an alternate path to deliver those benefits. This is about fairness and security. The fragmented status quo leaves households overpaying for energy, students facing unequal digital access and entrepreneurs boxed into tiny domestic markets. It also weakens Europe geopolitically: Fragmented energy systems increase vulnerability to hostile suppliers; disjointed capital markets amplify financial shocks; and splintered telecoms and digital rules hamper our ability to control critical infrastructure and data flows. Deadlines force choices and sharpen political will — without them, the default remains delay. Europe’s leaders thus need to set a clear, nonnegotiable deadline to complete the single market in energy, telecoms, capital and knowledge by 2028. And here are the concrete steps they must take: First, they must institutionalize the fifth freedom — the free circulation of knowledge and innovation — by removing regulatory barriers to research collaboration, data exchange, university partnerships and mobility for knowledge workers. Next, they need to adopt EU-wide rules where national governments block progress. Activating the 28th-regime concept will allow willing member countries and their citizens to benefit, even if one or two vetoers refuse to move. Then, break energy silos by fast-tracking cross-border interconnectors, harmonizing grid and wholesale market rules, and prioritizing joint procurement to prevent costly duplication. Also, unify telecoms by eliminating burdensome national licensing, promoting Pan-European operators, and creating a regulatory environment that rewards competition and coverage. Europe’s leaders thus need to set a clear, nonnegotiable deadline to complete the single market in energy, telecoms, capital and knowledge by 2028. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images Finally, complete the capital markets union through the Savings and Investments Union, linking finance to the real economy and fostering investments in the common goods that Europe needs, such as innovation and digital, security, and the fight against climate change. Completing the single market must also go hand in hand with security and resilience. If Europe is to spend billions on defense, those investments must translate to more than trophies for national procurement agencies. We need a single market for defense, with interoperable equipment, joint procurement, shared standards and industrial cooperation. Defense purchases need to build common capabilities — not 27 bespoke systems that can’t communicate with each other. Societal resilience matters too. Authoritarian and malign actors weaponize disinformation, exploit social divisions and erode trust in institutions. Fighting disinformation is as much about strengthening communities as it is about policing platforms, and Europe must invest in civic resilience. We must also be clear-eyed about enlargement. Ukraine’s and Moldova’s resilience have shown democratic determination in the face of Russian aggression, and their efforts should inspire concrete progress. Former European Commission President Jacques Delors called enlargement “our duty” — and he was right. Widening the single market to include the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova, while rigorously enforcing rule of law and democratic standards, is not charity. It’s a strategic investment in Europe’s security and prosperity. Europe now faces a stark choice: Inertia on the one hand, meaning fragmented markets, stranded talent, fragile societies and rising illiberalism; or integration on the other — a single market that lowers costs, boosts competitiveness, enhances security and renews citizens’ trust. The 2028 deadline shouldn’t be seen as a slogan. It’s a contract with Europeans who want results, not reassurances. And leaders must treat it as such. Delors said Europe needs a soul. Today, it needs delivery. Let’s strengthen our defenses and societies, meet our duty to our neighbors and finish the job. Let’s do it by 2028.