In January 2024, Mario Draghi handed the European Commission a document unlike any other in recent memory. Direct, data-driven, and unafraid of uncomfortable truths, the Report on the Future of European Competitiveness did something Brussels too often avoids: it named the structural weaknesses of the EU economy and called out the policy inertia holding Europe back.
Since then, the report has generated intense discussion among policymakers, analysts, and industry leaders. But momentum is fragile—and already, there are signs that some would prefer to quietly shelve it. That would be a grave mistake.
The Draghi Report represents a turning point. It makes the case that Europe's long-term prosperity cannot be built on incrementalism. It challenges the prevailing logic of overregulation, fragmented capital markets, and techno-industrial stagnation. It reminds us that competitiveness is not a secondary concern—it is the foundation of the European social model, the precondition for climate leadership, and the anchor of global relevance.
More than anything, the report puts its finger on Europe’s central contradiction: we set ambitious goals for digitalisation, sustainability, and strategic autonomy, but we lack the capacity to deliver them at scale and speed. The root of the problem is not a lack of vision—but a lack of implementation power, institutional alignment, and political courage.
The report doesn’t just diagnose these problems. It offers solutions—clear, sector-specific, and grounded in economic realism. From reforming the EU's fiscal rules to deepening capital markets, accelerating permitting procedures, and investing in talent and infrastructure, the Draghi Report charts a course that is both pragmatic and transformative.
But none of this will matter unless we make sure the report remains alive in the political bloodstream of Europe.
That means turning its insights into sustained action—across Commission directorates, member state ministries, and public-private coalitions. It means resisting the temptation to cherry-pick the easy recommendations and ignore the rest. It means building a cross-ideological alliance in Brussels and beyond to keep reform on the agenda, even when the political winds shift.
The battle lines are already clear. On one side are those who see the Draghi Report as an overdue reckoning with the EU’s economic reality. On the other, those who view it as a threat to the existing regulatory order. For the defenders of the status quo, shelving the report is the path of least resistance. For the rest of us, it must become a rallying cry.
This is not just a fight over a policy document. It is a test of whether Europe can adapt in time to meet the demands of a volatile world. As the United States and China double down on industrial policy, and as global competition for investment, talent, and innovation intensifies, the EU must decide: will it remain a regulatory superpower in decline—or become a serious actor on the global stage?
That choice depends on what we do now. The Draghi Report provides a roadmap. But roadmaps don’t implement themselves.
What Europe needs is a political project anchored in economic realism, committed to execution, and capable of building broad-based support. The Draghi Report is the blueprint. Whether it becomes a footnote or a foundation is up to us.
