“Whatever it takes, whatever it costs!”: this formula launched in 2012 by Mario Draghi, then president of the European Central Bank, flourished, with mixed results. But, at the time, in the midst of the sovereign debt crisis, the economist deployed drastic measures and saved the euro by tearing it away from the speculation of the financial markets.
This shows the legitimacy and weight of the 400-page report that this taciturn Italian has just submitted to the President of the European Commission. According to him, Europe is going through an existential moment: its dynamism and its raison d’être are threatened as the disconnect accelerates in relation to the two great global economic powers that are the United States and China.
For a common dynamic?
Innovation, technology, digital, decarbonisation, competitiveness, securing raw materials… it is only by joining forces that Europeans will be able to go the distance and preserve their social model. Each year, the 27 should invest 800 billion euros while completing the internal market and unifying their capital markets. The Union should also continue to issue common loans similar to what was adopted to overcome the Covid 19 pandemic. “Super Mario”, as his admirers call him, also denounces the propensity of European institutions to produce too much regulation, contradictory and restrictive, and recommends a more flexible and productive mode of governance. So much for the diagnosis and the statement of remedies. Furthermore, will they join the many recommendations that are rarely followed up, or do they have the slightest chance of bringing about the necessary rebound?
A new Commission is to be announced next week, before passing the test of the European Parliament. Are Germany and France in a position to agree on a common dynamic? Are other partnerships possible? From the United States to China, protectionism is back. Does Europe have the means and the will to resist and halt its decline?
Our guests:
Olivier Costa was co-rapporteur with Daniela Schwarzer of the Report of the independent group of Franco-German experts on the reforms of the European Union (EU) (2023) ;
Agathe Demarais is the author of the book Backfire : How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests (Columbia University Press, 2022) ;
Paul Maurice co-directed with Claire Demesmay, Hans Stark and Jérôme Vaillant the dossier “60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty (1963) and implementation of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (2019)”, published in the journal Germany today 2023/2 (N° 244) ;
Jean-Dominique Giuliani is President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, which published the Schuman Report on Europe 2024: the state of the union published by Marie B.
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