Mario Draghi, Europe's arch-technocrat, is on a mission to save the eurozone and fix the EU. Again.
The former central bank chief – who famously said he would "do whatever it takes" to save the euro during the post-financial crash debt crisis of the early 2010s – has released a landmark report on how to stem Europe's economic decline and reverse the swing towards US and Chinese dominance.
What did the commentators say?
Draghi's focus is on how to make Europe more competitive by boosting innovation, increasing investment and exploiting the bloc's scale by bringing together fragmented markets. In short, said The Economist, he wants "to make Europe a bit more European, which in these areas at least is smart".
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, Draghi warned that "we're going to be a society that basically shrinks", adding that "we share this cake which becomes smaller and smaller – with a smaller number of people". His diagnosis is "widely shared by experts", said Politico. But "what to do about it is the hard part".
Given the "scale of the challenge", said the FT, the bloc needs an "ambitious agenda to jump-start its long-subdued productivity growth", which has fallen well behind the US, China and India over the past three decades.
The solution, Draghi argues, is a "new industrial strategy" that raises public and private investment by €800 billion (£674 billion) a year – or 4.7% of total eurozone GDP – to boost growth. Other proposals include energy market reform, looser merger rules, and collective efforts to close the innovation gap with the US and China, particularly in technology. Decision-making processes would also be reformed to become more efficient and faster.
What next?
Draghi's findings and recommendations have "gained significant attention", said Euronews, and should provide a valuable framework for the European Commission's newly re-elected president, Ursula von der Leyen. But "their long-term impact is unclear".
Although Europe is facing a series of economic, political and defence crises, Draghi's proposals are "longstanding Brussels demands that have been repeatedly opposed by the EU's own members".
Acting on them will be the "real challenge", agreed the FT. The bloc's two largest economies, France and Germany, are "grappling with unstable coalition governments that may hinder any progress on EU-wide matters". Strategic co-operation – especially around common debt and plans for a capital market union – is "easier said than done". | 
