Press release —

Eurofound Talks Freedom to Stay with Valeria Ronzitti

In a new episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Eurofound moves the conversation forward on the ‘Freedom to Stay’ — a concept developed by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in his 2024 ‘Much More Than a Market’ report.

The freedom to stay acts as a counterbalance to the four freedoms of the EU Single Market, which have brought significant growth and competitiveness to Europe but can arguably contribute to regional imbalances. It looks at local essential services, opportunities, environment, housing, institutional quality, digital skills, and infrastructure, arguing for coherent regional development that ensures movement remains a choice and a right, rather than a necessity.

In the episode, Mary McCaughey speaks with SGI Europe Secretary General Valeria Ronzitti about the concept of the Freedom to Stay and the pivotal role of essential services in creating opportunities across Europe. Together, they explore how access to quality services, from housing and healthcare to transport and digital connectivity, can help ensure that people can choose to live, work, and thrive in the communities they call home.

Valeria elaborates on SGI Europe's perspective that Services of General Interest (SGIs), such as water, transport, healthcare, housing, and energy, are the backbone of regional cohesion, influencing whether local communities and businesses can thrive. She also critiques what she views as a fragmented, siloed approach to the issue within the European Pillar of Social Rights, advocating instead for an integrated framework that treats housing, healthcare, and infrastructure as interconnected needs.

For SGI Europe, robust local infrastructure serves as both an enabler and a primary driver of EU competitiveness, carrying critical democratic implications for citizens in rural areas who often feel left behind by a focus on major urban hubs.

Eurofound, for its part, has developed a new Freedom to Stay (FTS) index that grounds the concept in data and provides policymakers with an evidence-based tool to assess the conditions that support people to remain in their home region.

Using this index, Eurofound’s forthcoming report, Measuring the freedom to stay: Understanding the conditions that enable people to stay in their region, reveals that no EU region excels across all of the conditions that enable this freedom, highlighting the clear need for a tailored, place-based approach to reducing regional disparities and supporting territorial cohesion.

The podcast is available to stream on Spotify. A video recording of the episode is also on our YouTube channel.

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Eurofound is an EU agency, based in Dublin. Eurofound provides information, advice and expertise on working conditions and sustainable work, industrial relations, labour market change and quality and life and public services. For more information about Eurofound and its work, and free access to all our data and findings, visit our website and follow us on these social media channels: X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Bluesky.

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