Mario Draghi has said in speeches that the decisions that Europe must make \u201ccan no longer be confined within the institutional framework we have inherited.\u201d It would not work. For him, the answer lies in a strong change, in courage and in what he calls \u201cpragmatic federalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Draghi came to say this, in a speech that is perhaps his clearest and most concise yet, in Aachen, Germany, in a country that was deeply suspicious of him, almost to the point of making him a public enemy (\u201cHow can an Italian defend the stability of the currency?\u201d, German politicians would ask, and newspapers sometimes described him as Count Dracula)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, this morning Draghi received the Karlspreis, the Charlemagne Prize, Germany\u2019s highest award, for his \u201clife\u2019s work.\u201d In the chapel where around thirty German emperors have been crowned since Charlemagne, \u201cDr. Professor Mario Draghi\u201d was awarded the medal, the certificate and the 1 million euro prize (for supporting European projects).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the front row is Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who introduces him and thanks him. Draghi begins by improvising in English: \u201cI have never had so many people to thank,\u201d and as if at an Oscar ceremony he names many, but \u201cthanks above all to my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mrs. Serena seems surprised, reacts almost as if Draghi was making fun of her and resists (she \u201cscolds\u201d him a little, like wives who don\u2019t want to follow their husbands in public), before standing up and accepting the applause. Then Draghi begins his lesson. A wordy speech, not given to criticism (not even hinting) towards the status quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
America and China<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Draghi says the context has completely changed. He is categorical about America, which has been his main orientation throughout his life. Decisions with profound consequences for European economies are being taken increasingly unilaterally, without respect for the rules that the United States once defended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He calls for a more decisive stance against Trump, without naming him. But he is also very critical of Beijing. \u201cChina does not offer an alternative anchor either. It creates industrial surpluses on a scale that the world cannot absorb without emptying our own production base. And it directly supports our adversary, Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did we get here?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If Europe is in this situation, it is no accident. The fact is that it was designed that way. \u201cThe European project was built, deliberately and wisely,\u201d Draghi says, \u201cto prevent the concentration of power. After the disasters of the first half of the twentieth century, Europeans decided that no member state would dominate the others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent authorities, processes bound by rules and markets, agreements between governments were wrapped \u201cin layers of procedures that eliminated their political character.\u201d Deliberately. The results of that system, Draghi says, were impressive: peace; the single market; the euro; freedom of movement. \u201cIt allowed us to achieve something historically rare: integration without subordination.\u201d Until it stopped working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why isn\u2019t it working?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Draghi says the European system was based on two assumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first: \u201cThat Europe had built a truly open economy, in which the state did not need to direct development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second: \u201cThat Europe would never again have to face the toughest questions of power and security, because others would answer for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the fact is that \u201cboth of these assumptions have now been proven to be empty.\u201d Then the more political Draghi emerges: \u201cThere is an irony in all this. Europe relied on markets to perform a task that the common political authority was not authorized to perform. But we deprived those markets of the continental scale they needed to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Draghi believes that many of today\u2019s solutions, such as the conclusion of international economic agreements, are a band-aid: they help but do not solve the real problem \u2014 a message that the Germans and Merz must give substance to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three vulnerabilities & Five ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Draghi identifies three major vulnerabilities of Europe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then moved on to proposals: completing the single market, an industrial policy (\u201cIf European member states attempt a large-scale industrial policy within the existing structure of the single market, they will fail. They will spend inefficiently, fragment investments along national lines and impose costs on each other\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then made an extensive reference to the need for European defense and strategic autonomy. And here there is a message to the sovereignists\/Eurosceptics: \u201cEven the parties that built their identity on national sovereignty now recognize that no European country can defend itself alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pragmatic federalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Draghi spoke about two ideas that are particularly important. The solutions differ: among them \u201callowing countries that want to move forward to do so,\u201d but also \u201ccreating specific partnerships,\u201d which give visible results, building consensus in society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mario Draghi has said in speeches that the decisions that Europe must make \u201ccan no longer be confined within the institutional framework we have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[818,390],"tags":[25,470,8090,1010,2382],"class_list":["post-29098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-politics","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-federalism","tag-mario-draghi","tag-super-mario"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29100,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29098\/revisions\/29100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
His \u201cpragmatic federalism\u201d: for Draghi, the Europe of \u201c27\u201d often fails to decide, because everything fails through procedures and compromises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n