BRUSSELS, Belgium: Europe needs to bridge “old divisions” to become a “genuine power” -- or risk remaining “subordinated” to the United States and China, former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi warned on Monday.
Draghi, who authored a landmark 2024 report on the EU economy, warned that the 27-nation European Union had to get its act together to survive under a “now defunct global order”. “Of all those now caught between the US and China, Europeans alone have the option to become a genuine power themselves,” the ex-Italian prime minister said in a speech at a university in Leuven, Belgium.
“So we must decide: do we remain merely a large market, subject to the priorities of others? Or do we take the steps necessary to become one power?” he asked. Draghi is invited to join an informal gathering of European leaders focusing on strengthening Europe´s competitiveness on February 12 in Alden, Belgium.
The meeting is supposed to steer Brussels´ reform agenda over the coming months. Part of this will involve implementing more of the hundreds of recommendations from Draghi´s 400-page report -- few of which have become reality nearly 18 months on. On Monday the 78-year-old Italian, who received an honorary doctorate from the KU Leuven university, did not go into details but pointed the way.
