Oracle Draghi scolds the European Union: "We must break taboos"

BrusselsMario Draghi, known as the savior of the euro, is a name of consensus in the corridors of the European Union institutions. He has established himself as a kind of oracle, and that's why Ursula von der Leyen is favoring him. commission a report that would mark the path forward for the European bloc in the coming years. Exactly one year ago, the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) presented this study in Brussels, which, among other measures, advocates for a major investment—up to 800 billion euros—to close the gap with the competitiveness of industry in the United States and China, gain energy and military autonomy, and safeguard...

However, in a speech on Tuesday, the former Italian prime minister once again scolded the leaders of the European Union and criticized that, a year after the presentation of the famous report, almost everything that is hot is still in the kitchen sink. "The way forward involves breaking deeply rooted taboos," Draghi said from the Belgian capital, accompanied by Von der Leyen. "European citizens are expressing growing frustration," he warned.

On some points, he was even more pessimistic, especially regarding international trade. Draghi lamented Donald Trump's tariff increase, although he asserted that "it is not realistic in the short term" to decouple the EU market from the US market. "The foundations of European growth—the expansion of global trade and high-value exports—have weakened further," he warned. However, he sees the EU trade agreement with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia) as a "certain relief" for European exporters.

First, Draghi once again called for moving toward a more "federal" European Union to be more competitive against other major international players, especially the United States and China. Thus, he urged European leaders to move toward a more united market and reduce the "walls" between member states in various fields, such as science and innovation. He also called for major steps in this direction, such as the adoption of the euro, and called for a return to this pro-European "commitment."

The former ECB president also criticized the EU for being late to the technological race on artificial intelligence (AI). Von der Leyen, in her turn, was optimistic, saying that the competition has just begun, but Draghi almost entirely corrected her, noting that the United States and China are ahead of the European bloc. However, he applauded the European Commission's investments in AI, especially with regard to gigafactories, such as the one in Barcelona.

Regarding energy, Draghi and Von der Leyen's vision was also quite different. The president of the European Commission primarily defended the fact that the European bloc is consuming less fossil fuels and is moving toward the energy transition, while the former Italian prime minister stressed that European industry still has to deal with energy that is much more expensive than its direct competitors. "Industrial energy prices are on average more than double in the EU than in the US," Draghi recalled.

Draghi also criticized the European Union's slow response capacity in general and insisted that it is necessary to "move faster." He warned European leaders to leave behind "complacency," saying they cannot justify the "slowness" of their actions due to the complexity of the European bloc and bureaucracy. "A different path now requires speed, ambition, and intensity," he indicated.

Large-scale public investment is falling into oblivion.

One of Draghi's flagship proposals was to launch a massive public investment program, combined with private financing, totaling €800 billion. He also proposed issuing more common debt across the EU. However, there has been strong historical opposition from the most austerity-minded member states, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries in general. Therefore, for the time being, von der Leyen has only launched financing in the form of loans worth €150 billion, strictly earmarked for defense.