Why social investment holds the key to delivering on the Draghi report

Abstract

The report by Mario Draghi on the future of competitiveness (together with Enrico Letta’s report on the Single Market) is a landmark publication poised to shape the agenda of the incoming European Commission. According to Draghi, the foundations of the European economic growth model are under strain. World trade expansion is in decline, the era of cheap Russian gas has ended, and new security concerns call for a fundamental policy overhaul. To meet the challenge, 800 billion in public and private investment must be mobilised. Simply put, European policymakers must shift paradigmatic gears in governing the economy if the EU wants to remain relevant amidst intensified economic and political competition between China and the USA.