Blog post by Stephen Wyber
A year ago, Enrico Letta brought the idea of a Fifth Freedom – the freedom of movement of knowledge – firmly back onto the EU agenda. Placing it as the first of his five priorities for reinvigorating the EU and its Single Market, this was something that Knowledge Rights 21 warmly welcomed at the time.
Building on the proposal, the mission letter issued by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to prospective Commissioners included a call on Commissioner Zaharieva to make a reality of the fifth freedom. Von der Leyen reiterated this priority in her speech at the Sorbonne just a couple of weeks ago:
“We want to strengthen the free movement of knowledge and data across Europe – just as we do for goods, talents and capital across our Single Market.”
However, a little over a year on from the Letta report, how are we doing in reality in ensuring that the freedom of movement of knowledge is seen as being on the same level as that of goods, people, services and capital?
Is the freedom of movement of knowledge the fifth freedom, or the fifth Beatle? This blog analyses the new Single Market Strategy, released on 21 May, to try and find an answer.
Not Getting the Message?
The Strategy is the latest in a series, with the previous one launched in 2015. As might be expected, it underlines the importance of the market for Europe, and in recognition of the times, makes the connection between stronger integration and greater resilience and competitiveness in an uncertain world.
It also calls for a new level of ambition, both in terms of actions to break down barriers to free circulation, and also in terms of the scope of issues addressed.
However, it certainly does not look like the idea of ensuring freedom of movement of knowledge has made it into the new Strategy. The focus is still very much on the needs of business, without consideration of the research sector.
This is despite research institutions not only being the breeding ground for so many new businesses, products and services, but also active partners for innovative firms.
The closest the Strategy gets to referring to research is in its reference to how this can inform the definition of standards, and perhaps discussion of data, although even then this is primarily linked to discussion around what data needs to be shared and accessed to allow other goods and services to circulate.
It unfortunately also makes the mistake of treating all intellectual property (IP) rights as being the same, when only actually reflecting on the role of patents. As previously highlighted on our site, different IP rights affect research and innovation in different ways – a point that should be better reflected.
An Opportunity Opens?
While there may appear to be a disconnect between the discussion around research and the wider single market, there are nonetheless plenty of aspects that could help.
There are certainly proposals which, if they were applied to the circulation of knowledge and research, could help. Active single market agencies and sherpas (high level officials charged with promoting conditions that favour circulation) could certainly be helpful in addressing barriers that continue to exist in national law.
Additionally, there is the focus on promoting greater coherence between investment and regulation. Echoing the Heitor Report, this is certainly a step that could support the research sector through a truly whole-of-government approach – as well as ensuring that the impact of Europe’s impressive spending isn’t blunted by regulation that restricts researchers unnecessarily.
The promised Digital Package also offers a very practical opportunity to implement some of the recommendations in the report already made in the report released last year by the Directorate General for Research, Technology and Development. This addressed head-on the problems created for research by inconsistencies and other issues in a number of the pieces of legislation up for review.
Finally, when the Commission next reports on progress on this Strategy, this will come alongside an assessment of how well the EU is doing on competitiveness. This – at least if this year’s report is a guide – will say more about the importance of research.
From Four to Five
The impression from the Single Market Strategy is that the imperative of developing a fifth freedom – the freedom of movement of knowledge – has yet to be fully integrated into the core of the EU’s work, even if there are certainly positive signs of political support.
The upcoming European Innovation Act (this year) and European Research Area Act (next year) will provide the highest profile opportunity to ‘put flesh on the bones’ of the idea of a fifth freedom.
At the same time, for this truly to succeed, the logic of supporting research needs to be integrated into the EU’s core work around enabling the Single Market. A major first step here will be to ensure that initiatives such as the Digital Package realise their potential to support research and knowledge circulation.
In this way, we can ensure that the freedom of movement of knowledge becomes as important a part of the way that the EU talks about competitiveness as it is in reality to Europe’s ability to achieve prosperity and resilience and deliver wider policy goals.
22 May 2025
