Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank and Italy’s ex-prime minister, shared limited details of his upcoming report with members of European Parliament (MEPs).
The report, due in June, was requested by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and is meant to detail recommendations to reinvigorate Europe’s sluggish economy. It’ll specifically address how the continent can stay competitive as the US and China grow their industries.
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MEPs first reactions
Manfred Weber, the leader of the EU’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) said he was happy that “competitiveness [was] the number one issue […] as the business party of Europe, we welcome this very much.” Von der Leyen is also part of the EPP.
Bas Eickhour, a leader of the Green party, also seemed to welcome the report, “What I very much like… is that he indeed stands very clearly with European values” such as public services and climate change.
Some left-leaning MEPs expressed scepticism and may need to wait to see Draghi’s full proposal to make an established judgement.
Manon Aubry, a representative of France’s left-wing party La France Insoumise, said she was unimpressed with the presentation which she saw as “paying lip service which didn’t say much.”
She added she’d be interested “to talk about competitiveness, but then we’d have to call into question the European trade policy that’s sold off our industry […] there’s at minimum a hypocrisy, if not a fundamental contradiction.”
Europe’s economy
The news comes on the heels of Enrico Letta, another ex-Italian Prime Minister, presenting his own report with recommendations for the European economy. In it, he sounded a “big red alarm” about Europe getting left behind by the US in various sectors.
Draghi has expressed similar concerns about the negative consequences of limited innovation, high energy prices, skills gaps, dependencies on China and climate change. He has suggested that tough reforms are necessary and that the bureaucracy of Brussels would not be exempt.
The full report is expected to be published on Monday (September 9th).
