Draghi urges reform, investment drive to revive lagging EU

9/9/2024 20:02

        The European Union needs far more coordinated industrial policy, more rapid decisions and massive investment if it wants to keep pace economically with
        rivals the United States and China, Mario Draghi said on Monday in a long awaited report.
        
        The European Commission asked the former European Central Bank chief and Italian prime minister a year ago to write a report on how the EU should keep its greening and more digital economy competitive at a time of increased global friction.
        
        "Europe is the most open economy in the world so when our partners don't play according to the rules, we are more vulnerable than others," Draghi told a news conference.
        
        In the opening section of a report set to run to some 400 pages, Draghi said the bloc needed additional investment of 750-800 billion euros ($829-884 billion) per year, up to 5% of GDP - far higher even than the 1-2% in the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe after World War Two.