EU, Draghi report: “Radical change for it to continue to exist”

Former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, presenting his report on European competitiveness this morning at a joint press conference with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stressed the need for a “radical change” to secure the future of the European Union. In a document containing 170 proposals “and compiled without any pressure”, Draghi highlighted three main areas on which Europe should focus: “innovation, energy and security”. Europe must improve coordination between member states and EU institutions, reducing the number of decisions taken by unanimity and promoting enhanced cooperation and a common debt.

The former Prime Minister also stressed the importance of addressing the challenges related to decarbonisation and energy security, as well as reducing dependencies on third countries. In short, an urgent and concrete call for action to address the economic challenges and ensure sustainable growth for Europe. According to Draghi’s report, Europe must first close the innovation gap. Secondly, to lower energy prices and seize the industrial opportunities of decarbonisation, Europe needs a joint plan that ensures that ambitious demand can be met by leadership in the technologies that will deliver it. A process that “will have to embrace the energy-producing industries that enable decarbonisation, such as cleantech and automotive, and the so-called hard-to-abate industries”.

Furthermore, the EU will necessarily have to reduce external dependencies: “Given its dependence on imports ranging from raw materials to advanced technology, the EU will have to develop a genuine ‘foreign economic policy’ that coordinates preferential trade agreements and direct investments with resource-rich nations.” But Draghi also does not underestimate the fact that “Europe will also have to develop a strong and independent defence industrial capacity that will allow it to meet the growing demand for military resources and equipment and remain at the forefront of defence technology.”

All these principles are also shared by the new Commission, whose formation is still underway but whose continuity is assured by the renewed presidency of von der Leyen: “With Draghi, we shared analyses of the economic situation and began to outline solutions. We are based on two fundamental principles: first, the only way to ensure our long-term competitiveness is to abandon fossil fuels and move towards a clean, competitive and circular economy. Europe. All the transformations we undertake must be fair. We can build on our very successful social model: the social market economy.”