Mario Draghi: EU must become a state

Mario Draghi
Photo: EPA-EFE

The European Union is at a critical juncture, and it is now necessary for it to unite to “become a state”, former prime minister and ECB governor Mario Draghi said during a book presentation.

Draghi, the economist famous for the ‘whatever it takes’ approach who governed Italy during the pandemic, says he is ‘worried’ about the critical moment Europe is going through.

“Let us hope that those founding values that brought us together will hold us together… Today, the growth model has dissolved, and we need to reinvent a way of growing, but to do this, we need to become a State”, he said.

According to him, the time has now come to unite and overcome the difficulties linked to fragmented EU regulations in every sector, which slow down the EU’s operation, particularly in response to emergencies.

Speaking of the EU’s market potential, Draghi called it “too small”, adding that there “are so many markets and therefore the small companies that are born in Europe, as soon as they grow, they sell or go to the United States”.

However, the time may be ripe, according to Draghi. Even if two wars are ongoing, the EU could gain strength over time, particularly as enlargement is already being discussed.

“We, as Europe, spend three to five times what Russia spends, and we are the second largest investor in military expenditure after the US. It is, therefore, a question of better coordination(… It is a special moment when we have to review many of the assumptions of our being together”, he concluded.

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