Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is to present his long-awaited report on the competitiveness of the European Union (EU) on Monday, three months after the initial deadline, with the aim of ending “structural barriers” to competitors such as China and the United States.
The information was provided to the Lusa agency by several sources familiar with the process, on the day Mario Draghi travelled to Brussels to inform, behind closed doors, the permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU and the Conference of Presidents (with the leaders of the institution and partisan groups) of the European Parliament about the guidelines of the report on community competitiveness, which will be officially made public on Monday.
One of these sources specified that, at the time, the former governor and former leader of the European Central Bank (ECB) pointed out that, in recent decades, “European competitiveness was subject to a series of structural barriers”including lagging innovation capacity, rising energy prices, skills shortages and the need to accelerate digitalisation and strengthen Europe’s common defence capabilities.
The report requested from Mario Draghi by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will therefore serve as a “reflection on the challenges facing Europe and on how the EU, its institutions, Member States and stakeholders can, together, overcome them to regain Europe’s competitive advantage”, particularly against its main competitors, China and the United States.
This is the report that the former president of the European Central Bank has been preparing on European competitiveness, whose presentation was initially scheduled for June, then July and now September, after a break for holidays in the European Union institutions.
Another source told Lusa that Draghi’s report focuses on issues such as productivity, reducing EU dependencies, climate and social inclusionwhich also covers specific recommendations for the ten main sectors of the economy (such as energy, innovation, capital markets, state aid, cohesion, skills, defence and investment).
At a time when Ursula von der Leyen is putting together her team for the next term at the head of the European Commission (from 2024 to 2029), the document in question will guide the person responsible for the mission letters of the designated European commissioners, another source told Lusa.
This report follows another one published last April by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, although this report focuses more on the EU’s internal market, while Mario Draghi’s is more focused on the international scene.
The document will be debated by the Commission on Wednesday in Brussels and discussed by EU heads of state and government at the informal European Council in November, held in Budapest by the Hungarian EU presidency.
Exactly one year ago, in her State of the Union address, Ursula von der Leyen announced a report on European competitiveness and spoke of a “challenging” context for industry in the EU.
At the moment, The official listed “three major economic challenges for the industry” in 2024, including “lack of labor and skills, inflation” and the need to “facilitate business activity” when there is contained economic growth.
Von der Leyen has therefore asked former ECB President Mario Draghi, “one of Europe’s greatest economic minds, to draw up a report on the future of European competitiveness”.
Source: Observadora
