“When you ask me what is better to do now I say that I have no idea, but do something.” There is urgency and also a certain impatience in the words of Mario Draghi’s latest speech to the European Parliament. The former president of the Italian Council and head of the ECB spoke in front of the MEPs: used expressions and themes touched are consequences of the historical period in which Europe is located, between new Trump administration, war in Ukraine and commercial challenges with China . Draghi’s recipe is another “bazooka”, like the one who saved the eurozone during the debt crisis. The former ECB president reiterated it: you have to invest as a single state to change the situation. Also because: “We are alone”. Investments, yes, but to finance what?
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“The answer must be quick, because the weather is not on our side, with the European economy that stagnates while most of the world grows,” said Mario Draghi. “Speed, scale and intensity will be essential”, the opinion of the former ECB president.
“You can’t say no to everything”
Mario Draghi
“Some time ago, speaking I believe in a meeting of the ECOFIN, before ending the report, I said: say no to the common debt, tell the single market, tell you no to the creation of the unit of the capital market. You cannot say to No to everything. Do something. Now the comfortable world is over, and we have to ask ourselves, we want to defend these values or we should leave, and leave where? “, Dragon is asked.
Draghi had been commissioned by the former president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to develop a relationship on the future of European competitiveness. In the report, an estimate was made of what was needed to relaunch the economy of the continent: 800 billion per year, a double percentage of the Marshall plan. Everything would be covered by new European loans following the example of the “Nextgenerationau”, the program that financed the PNRRs.
“We have to reduce energy prices”
“We must reduce energy prices, this has become imperative not only for traditional industries, but also for advanced technologies: but the decarbonisation can be sustainable only if its benefits are anticipated,” said Draghi. The report suggests to give life to a reform “of the energy market, greater transparency in the energy trade, greater use of long -term supply contracts and long -term purchases of natural gas, massive investments in networks and interconnections” In addition to focusing on the development of renewable energy “.
At the same time, he added, “we must guarantee equal conditions for our innovative sector of clean technologies, so that it can benefit from the transition opportunities.
“With the green transition you cannot lose jobs”
On the transition to renewable energies, Draghi said that “it cannot mean the loss of green jobs, because companies in the countries with greater state support can conquer market shares”.
But the tools must align with the objectives: “Decarbonization is the only thing that will guarantee the independence and sovereignty of our continent on energy supply. For example, the cessation of endothermic engines cannot be forced by saying to an entire production sector to stop a large production line without carrying out the installation of recharge columns and without creating interconnections to do it “.
War in Ukraine and duties, dragons: “We are alone”
War in Ukraine is another theme. “The EU defense system is one of our different vulnerabilities where the fragmentation of industrial capacity along the national lines prevents the necessary staircase – said Draghi -. If the recent declarations outline our future, we can expect to be left in great It starts alone to guarantee safety in Ukraine and Europe itself “.
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And it does not matter that we are the third country in the world for shopping, because “we would not be able to satisfy an increase in defense spending through our production capacity”, he pointed out, underlining that “our national defense systems are neither Interoperable or standardized in some key parts of the supply chain.
And the duties must not be forgotten: “In the coming months, the EU will face the duties imposed by the new US administration, which will hinder our access to our largest export market. The increase in US duties on China will redirect the Chinese surcharge towards Europe, further affecting European companies.
