N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
The EU is threatened from both the outside and the inside, Draghi wrote. From the outside because it is losing more and more power and influence to the US and China, and from the inside because chronically low economic growth affects living standards.
Draghi made 383 recommendations to turn the tide. The timing was not coincidental. Ursula von der Leyen was just appointed president of the European Commission for the second time, when she flanked Draghi during the presentation in the Commission’s headquarters. For Von der Leyen and her Commission the recommendations became a compass, she said.
A year later, not much has come of the implementation of the report. An analysis by the think tank European Policy Innovation Council (EPIC) showed that only 11.2 percent of the recommendations have been fully implemented. About 20 percent has been partially implemented, 46 percent has been set in motion, and nothing has happened at all with the remaining 22.7 percent.
At a conference where the analysis of the implementation was made, Von der Leyen patted herself on the back. A lot still needs to be done but the turnaround has begun, she said. After Von der Leyen, Draghi spoke, who struck a completely different tone.
The EU is still so dependent on Chinese raw materials that it cannot take a stand against China’s dumping on the EU market. This dependence also prevents the EU from going against China’s support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Result, China’s trade surplus with the European Union has increased by almost 20 percent since December last year.
Mario Draghi mentioned more ‘failures’. For instance, the EU must focus on developing its own ecosystem for artificial intelligence (AI), but rules on the use of data stand in the way of this. ‘EU data protection makes data about 20 percent more expensive for EU companies than for American ones’.
If the EU wants to maintain its level of prosperity, it will have to step over its own shadow, Draghi warned.
