{"id":35720,"date":"2025-09-16T10:09:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=35720"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:09:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:09:27","slug":"eu-economy-falls-behind-global-rivals-due-to-complacency-warns-mario-draghi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=35720","title":{"rendered":"EU economy falls behind global rivals due to \u2018complacency\u2019, warns Mario Draghi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Stay informed with free updates<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Simply sign up to the <!-- -->EU economy<!-- --> myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=a7c2d0fc-6e32-4a19-8cb3-e16f81d2d1eb&amp;concept-id=1a13ac9e-2e21-4c24-aad8-fb084b1c5ccd\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Mario Draghi has warned that the EU\u2019s economic competitiveness is on the retreat due to \u201cinaction\u201d by Brussels and national capitals, a year after the former Italian premier set out recommendations on how to close the gap with global rivals such as the US and China.<\/p>\n<p>Draghi, who also served as president of the European Central Bank, was tasked by the European Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/92f7aedd-67fa-488f-8559-7019b7c2e40a\" data-trackable=\"link\">to put forward a report on the bloc\u2019s competitiveness<\/a> in September last year. His 383 recommendations were adopted by the commission as a framework for overhauling the EU economy, but just a fraction of them have been implemented since, with the rest mired in political disagreement and bureaucratic wrangling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne year on, Europe is\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009in a harder place,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/7a22425a-56a3-4983-b479-7478583bc242\" data-trackable=\"link\">Draghi<\/a> told a news conference on Tuesday. \u201cOur growth model is fading. Vulnerabilities are mounting\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. and we have been reminded, painfully, that inaction threatens not only our competitiveness but our sovereignty itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo often, excuses are made for this slowness. We say it is simply how the EU is built. Sometimes inertia is even presented as respect for the rule of law,\u201d Draghi added. \u201cThat is complacency.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3Af918d08f-6164-4424-90dd-341fef13391b?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=1 1x,https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3Af918d08f-6164-4424-90dd-341fef13391b?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=2 2x\" width=\"1982\" height=\"1321\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 490px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3A3cb931d2-5e7f-43c7-8a06-f07ed849f75e?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=490&amp;dpr=1 1x,https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3A3cb931d2-5e7f-43c7-8a06-f07ed849f75e?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=490&amp;dpr=2 2x\" width=\"1446\" height=\"1446\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption o3-editorial-typography-caption\"><span>Draghi with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Tuesday<\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Simon Wohlfahrt\/Bloomberg<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ursula von der Leyen, the commission\u2019s president, who asked Draghi to write the report, admitted that the EU lacked \u201curgency\u201d in advancing the competitiveness agenda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur single market is far from complete\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. It\u00a0should not be easier to find fortune across an ocean than across European borders,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need urgent action to face urgent needs. Because our companies and workers can no longer wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She pointed to a still-pending overhaul of the bloc\u2019s merger rules and called on her competition chief, Teresa Ribera, to speed up the process. The lack of clarity on one of Draghi\u2019s key recommendations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9e51aecd-5d04-4cef-a7af-630ea83a9488\" data-trackable=\"link\">has sown uncertainty<\/a> and frustrated industry and executives, who are waiting for signs from Brussels before making investment decisions.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"ba6c94d1-73c6-4df5-9242-1a1a77c2ebed\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/ba6c94d1-73c6-4df5-9242-1a1a77c2ebed\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" data-trackable-context-story-link=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2289\/1288\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-teaser__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2F__origami%2Fservice%2Fimage%2Fv2%2Fimages%2Fraw%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%252Fproduction%252Fbce5e89a-192b-4695-ad5e-07904229ee54.jpg%3Fsource%3Dnext-article%26fit%3Dscale-down%26quality%3Dhighest%26width%3D700%26dpr%3D1?source=next&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;dpr=2&amp;width=240\" alt=\"Mario Draghi hands Ursula von der Leyen two blue-covered documents as she reacts with a wide smile during the news conference.\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe will have to advance the publication of the merger guidelines. I think it\u2019s now time to deliver\u201d, said von der Leyen.<\/p>\n<p>Despite pledges to move quickly on Draghi\u2019s suggestions, only 11.2 per cent of his ideas have been implemented over the past year, according to the European Policy Innovation Council, a Brussels-based think-tank. At the same time, Europe\u2019s economy has continued to flatline, with the US economy expanding eight times faster than the EU\u2019s in the second quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>European officials have argued that von der Leyen and national EU leaders have been distracted with averting a trade war with the US, keeping Donald Trump\u2019s administration engaged on Ukraine and striking the right balance with China.<\/p>\n<p>But Draghi warned that \u201cEurope\u2019s citizens and companies\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. express growing frustration. They are disappointed by how slowly the EU moves. They see us failing to match the speed of change elsewhere. They are ready to act, but fear governments have not grasped the gravity of the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a7c2d0fc-6e32-4a19-8cb3-e16f81d2d1eb\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the EU economy myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":35721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}