Draghi report on competitiveness delayed until after the summer, EU confirms

The release of a much-anticipated report on the European Union’s competitiveness by former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has been delayed until after the summer, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday (24 July).

The confirmation follows weeks of rumours that Draghi’s report, initially expected to be published before the EU elections in June, would not come out before September.

“[I] confirm that the Draghi report will be presented after the summer,” Johanna Bernsel, a spokesperson for the EU executive, told Euractiv.

Competitiveness has become an increasing object of focus among EU policymakers in recent months, with the US economy expected to significantly outperform Europe’s this year.

Belgium, which held the rotating presidency of the EU Council over the first six months of this year, made competitiveness one of the six priorities of its presidential programme.

Hungary, which took over from Belgium in July, has similarly made competitiveness an “overarching priority” of its Council presidency.

Budapest has also organised two competitiveness councils, in September and December, where the Draghi report is likely to be discussed and a “Competitiveness Deal” for Europe is expected to be agreed by the member states.

Different stakeholders have put forward varying interpretations of how Europe’s competitiveness should be strengthened.

Businesses have repeatedly emphasised that it will require a significant reduction of companies’ regulatory burden. But labour and environmental groups have expressed concerns that this could lead to a restriction of green and labour regulations.

Draghi, a widely respected technocrat who also previously served as Italian prime minister, has attempted to strike a balance between these two poles in recent months.

In a speech in April, Draghi called on policymakers to “streamline and further harmonise” regulations in Europe’s telecommunications industry and urged a review of prudential regulation in the bloc’s banking sector.

In another speech in June, however, he said that “maintaining high levels of social protection” across Europe is “non-negotiable”.

Notably, Draghi has tried to strike a similar balance on the importance of public and private funding to meet Europe’s green and digital investment needs, arguing that Europe must enact “radical change” to counter Chinese and US “protectionism”.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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