Draghi calls for €800bn EU investment boost and new industrial strategyOver in Brussels, Mario Draghi is calling for coordinated industrial policy and a huge increase in investment to improve the economic situation in the European Union and lift competitiveness.
Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief and Italian prime minister, is presenting a new report on the future of EU competitiveness, which he has been working on for the last year.
In it, he calls for a much more coordinated industrial policy, more rapid decisions and massive investment to stop Europe falling further behind the US and China.
Draghi says that Europe needs to boost its investment by up to five percentage points of GDP – or up to €800bn a year – and much closer coordination between European countries to ensure the money is spent effectively.
Draghi says his report proposes a “new industrial strategy for Europe”, and is granular with 170 different topline proposals.
Speaking in Brussels now, Draghi warns that Europe’s productivity is “weak, very weak”, and point out that growth has been slowing down for a long time.
World trade is slowing, and become less open to European countries, Draghi says, adding that Europe has also lost its main supplier of cheap energy, Russia. Also, it needs to invest more in defence, for the first time since second world war.
Another hurdle, Draghi adds, is that this is the first year that Europe cannot count on population growth to lift growth.
Draghi’s report is likely to influence the debate on EU competitiveness, one of the priorities of the next European Commission, which is due to take office later this year.
Introducing Draghi, EC president Ursula von der Leyen said there is a “wide consensus” that the issue of improving Europe’s competitiveness must be “at the top of our agenda and at the heart of our action”.