European competitiveness: a need to focus on innovation, decarbonisation and security (M. Draghi)

"Europe has the foundations in place to be a highly competitive economy. Yet growth in the EU has been slowing, driven by weakening productivity growth, calling into question Europe’s ability to meet its ambitions", states Mario Draghi, former Prime Minister of Italy, in his report on the future of European competitiveness published on 09/09/2024.

"Raising the EU’s competitiveness is necessary to reignite productivity and sustain growth in this changing world. Competitiveness today is less about relative labour costs and more about knowledge and skills embodied in the labour force", says the report.

According to Mario Draghi: "Europe now faces three major transformations:
• the need to accelerate innovation and find new growth engines;
• the need to bring down high energy prices while continuing to decarbonise and shift to a circular economy;
• and the need to react to a world of less stable geopolitics, where dependencies are becoming vulnerabilities and it can no longer rely on others for its security."

The European Commission tasked Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank…