Macron says Draghi report on EU competitiveness is "already obsolete"

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that the Draghi report, widely seen as a blueprint for boosting the EU's competitiveness, is "already obsolete".

Speaking at the annual French Ambassadors' Conference taking place on 08/01/2026, Macron said that in the face of "Chinese aggressiveness and American tariffs, the Draghi report, which we did not fully apply, is already obsolete, partly because it did not take into account this acceleration of the world".

The 2024 report on European competitiveness by Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, called for greater support for innovation in Europe. Macron backed Draghi's position, calling for "investment in innovation, in our national budgets, but above all in the European budget".

"We need to invest much more in innovation, AI Artificial intelligence , quantum, space and greentech. In these verticals, Europe has the cards in its hand, but it is weakened by under-investment from the public and private sectors."

To the attending diplomatic staff, the President asked to "take this agenda to Brussels, to the capitals, but also to translate it into action".

In its new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034, the European Commission proposed in July a €409 Bn European Competitiveness Fund, which includes €175 Bn for Horizon Europe, the EU's R&I programme.

"Today, particularly in certain regions of Europe or in certain countries, under-investment has set in. This has been reawakened in several countries where bilateral partnerships have been relaunched. We need to move much faster and much stronger. Our technological, economic and strategic interests are a priority for our diplomacy in Europe".

The French President also highlighted what he sees as recent successes of French diplomacy: the AI Action Summit that took place in February 2025 in Paris and a French-Indian report and international agenda that followed it, as well as the United Nations Ocean Conference, held in June 2025 in Nice, which saw the signature of a treaty on the regulation of the high seas.

In 2026, France will host the One Health Summit in Lyon in April: "It will be a key and very important moment in this defence of effective multilateralism on health issues," said Macron.