Europe must act united and become a "deeper union, capable of expressing a foreign policy and a defense policy" or it will not survive except as a simple single market. This was reported by former Prime Minister Mario Draghi in his speech at the Global Boardroom conference organized by the British newspaper Financial Times. Draghi has been tasked by the European Commission with drafting a report on how the EU can tackle the erosion of global competitiveness. “We should be very concerned about this aspect,” said Draghi, according to whom “the European economy has lost competitiveness in the last 20 or more years, compared not only to the United States but also to Japan, South Korea and, obviously, China". “In many, many technology areas, technology fields, we have lost presence, we have lost footprint,” the former European Central Bank governor added.
“The geopolitical and economic model on which Europe was based since the end of the Second World War has disappeared,” Draghi said in his speech. The former prime minister then identified the low level of productivity, high energy costs and the lack of qualified labor as the continent's weak points. “To have an economy that can support an aging society at the rate we have in Europe, we need to have much higher productivity,” Draghi said. “The point on which we must act together is energy. We won't get anywhere paying for energy two or three times what it costs in other parts of the world,” added the former ECB governor who then raised a short-term alarm signal. Europe could “record a recession” by the end of the year, but perhaps it will not be destabilizing,” Draghi concluded.
