The competitiveness of European industry will be articulated as one of the pillars of the next legislative cycle. The EU is trying not to lose the race against powers such as the United States or China and, to this end, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von de Leyen, has commissioned the former Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, to carry out an analysis of the bloc’s competitiveness. Among its main conclusions, the former President of the European Central Bank will highlight high energy prices and technology sector productivity as the main challenges of the EU.
This Wednesday, the Italian exchanged views with the ambassadors of the twenty-seven member states and with the political leaders of the European Parliament in Brussels, to whom he presented its report on the future of European competitiveness, which will be submitted in the coming days to the President of the European Commission, diplomatic sources explained.
In his analysis, the former Italian Prime Minister underlines that in recent decades European competitiveness has been subjected “structural brakes”. He mentioned the lag in innovation capacity, rising energy prices, the lack of qualified professionals, the need to rapidly accelerate digitalisation and urgently strengthen Europe’s common defence capabilities.
Draghi includes a clear message of urgency and calls for a change of direction for the bloc. His report, the details of which are not yet known, points to high energy prices or the productivity of the high-tech sector as some of the main problems for the EU’s competitiveness. due to lack of resources, European sources have pointed this out.
The analysis will present the bloc’s industrial competitiveness strategy in the coming years and the industrial plan that the President of the Community Executive promised during her second term. Digitalisation, defence and energy transition are among the key elements of the next five years for the EU, the same sources point out.
The Italian stressed that the report will contribute to the reflection on the challenges facing Europe and on how the Union, its institutions, the Member States and interested parties can overcome them together to regain a competitive advantage of Europe. Draghi said he was pleased that many of his ideas had already been reflected in the policy guidelines presented by Von der Leyen in July for her second term.
This is how the Italian will ask for greater integration into the bloc, which he considers a moment of urgency both at national and community level. This is why he asks take your recommendations very seriously, because what is at stake is the economic future. He advocates boosting European values, such as public services, the labour market or the climate transition, and strengthening innovation in the next five years, which will be essential to boost the EU’s competitiveness.
Enrico Letta’s report
It will be up to EU leaders, MEPs, EU institutions and countries to decide how to conduct their work and turn their recommendations into concrete results for Europeans. This analysis is complemented by that presented earlier this year by another former Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta. His aim was to promote greater integration of the Capital Markets Union, but this coincides with the energy sector as a key to competitiveness.
