A year after the Draghi report: is the EU on track?
Published by the former President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi on 9 September 2024, the report on the future of EU competitiveness was supposed to bring growth, stability and resilience, setting out numerous proposals to put the EU on a solid footing. Commentators take stock one year later and reach a sobering conclusion.
Time to speed up!
The EU is moving far too slowly, Kauppalehti complains:
“Europe and the US used to dominate the global economy. But the two have drifted apart, especially in the wake of the financial crisis. The US overcame that crisis more quickly than the politically and economically fragmented EU. ... One major change has been China's accelerated economic growth since the beginning of the 21st century. ... The world is changing rapidly, but the structures are holding the EU back. The bloc needs to accelerate without losing its strengths. Draghi says that what is needed now is less bureaucracy, less talk and more action. The problem is that there is a failure to recognise at the EU level how urgently quick decisions are needed.”
Coalitions of the willing needed
In the absence of a joint solution, individual countries should take the lead, demands the Financial Times:
“Of Draghi's 383 recommendations, including integrating capital markets, strengthening supply chains and aligning business regulations, an audit by the European Policy Innovation Council found only 11 per cent had been adopted. Deutsche Bank analysts found most progress had been in scaling up the defence industry, where the urgency was felt most strongly. ... Where not all capitals can agree, EU countries should form 'coalitions of the willing' to move forward with certain initiatives. Above all, the priority is to break out of the inertia that, as Draghi notes, is sometimes even presented as 'respect for the rule of law'.”