During his address to the European Parliament on Tuesday 17 September, former ECB President Mario Draghi once again described the sad fate awaiting the EU if it does not act to boost its productivity: less prosperity, less security and less freedom to choose our destiny. He then outlined his report on the future competitiveness of the EU to MEPs, a week after presenting it to the European Commission.
Although many MEPs regretted Mr Draghi’s absence from the debate that followed the presentation, they generally welcomed his proposals. The need to reduce the administrative and regulatory burden in order to avoid driving business away found favour with the majority groups, with the exception of the S&D group.
“There is far too much red tape for businesses. We must put an end to this, propose fewer regulations, trust more and listen more, instead of lecturing people”, denounced the Chair of the EPP group, Manfred Weber (German).
Conversely, members of the S&D, Greens/EFA and even Renew Europe warned against anti-environmental legislation rhetoric. “Decarbonisation can and should be a source of competitiveness and the driver of new developments”, insisted Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch).
Shared debt: another source of division. The debate on investment and Mario Draghi’s proposal to raise new common debt to finance industrial policy promises to divide the groups over the coming months. On the right and the far right, debt is seen as a bad idea given the state of public finances in the EU. “What is being proposed is a new headlong rush into debt, with billions that we don’t have, to be paid for by future generations”, says Jean-Paul Garraud (Patriots for Europe, French).
Markus Ferber (EPP, German) believes that if the EU implemented the rest of Mario Draghi’s recommendations, it would not need any new debt.
On the other side of the Chamber, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA members supported the idea of common debt to support industry.
