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Mario Draghi’s presentation of his long-awaited report on the future of Europe’s competitiveness to EU officials on Wednesday (4 September) was light on details and policy proposals, according to EU diplomats and MEPs – with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signalling she has not accessed the full document yet.
EU diplomats told Euractiv that the former European Central Bank (ECB) president’s initial briefing to member state representatives on Wednesday morning contained no detailed policy recommendations. One source went as far as to say that the lack of specificity meant “the much-anticipated” presentation “did not live up to the hype” and was ultimately “quite underwhelming.”
“He spent a lot of time talking about the many problems he’s identified when it comes to Europe’s competitiveness, and argued the EU and its member states need to reform in order to tackle the challenge of the future.”
“But he did not go into the solutions he will (supposedly) present in his report. Nothing on common borrowing, nothing about defence, etc. It was quite underwhelming,” the diplomat said.
An EU official who attended the Italian technocrat’s second presentation to European parliamentary group leaders in the afternoon noted that no concrete recommendations were made.
“Some [group leaders] asked some questions, but he didn’t really answer directly,” the official said, adding that stakeholders will “have to wait” until the report’s expected publication next week for more detailed proposals.
Talking to Euractiv, even the president of the EU executive herself implied she had not seen a version of the report yet.
“We already have the Letta report,” von der Leyen said, referring to the report on the Single Market written by another former Italian Prime Minister and published in April this year. “I have to see the second one.”
Meanwhile, diplomats said that the ex-central banker provided insight only into the report’s “general structure”. In particular, they explained it would be divided into five distinct sections: (i) increasing productivity, (ii) reducing dependencies, (iii) climate change, (iv) social inclusion, and (v) “sector-specific” proposals for ten “major sectors” of the EU economy.
One source said that Draghi, whose policy prescriptions have been a closely guarded secret since von der Leyen commissioned his report last September, concluded his morning briefing by emphasising the need for European unity.
“Draghi stressed the necessity of unprecedented cooperation among member states and a comprehensive reform of all institutions to implement the report’s recommendations effectively,” they said...
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