Mario Draghi ‘Super Star’ to the European Parliament. After his intervention to the hemicycle on the occasion of the event of the parliamentary week that groups both MEP and deputies and senators of the Member States, the former premier and former president of the ECB was surrounded by selfies and photos fans. A young woman convinced him to get a five euro banknote autograph. “A birthday gift for my partner,” he explained. “Obviously it is a banknote that reports his signature as a governed of the ECB,” he specified. On the other hand, another fan stopped him in the corridor to have an autograph on a flag of the European Union.
The former ruled has held a long speech to the EU Parliament by touching many points of interest for the Member States, with a clear message to the unit to face and be protagonists of the challenges on the field.
“We can regain the ability to defend our interests. And we can give hope to our people. National governments and parliaments of our continent, the European Commission and Parliament are called to be the custodians of this hope in a turning point in the history of Europe. If united, we will live up to the challenge and we would have success. “The former president of the ECB and former premier, Mario Draghi, said, in his speech to the European Parliament for parliamentary week 2025.
Security in Ukraine
“If the recent declarations outline our future, we can expect to be left largely alone to guarantee safety in Ukraine and Europe itself,” said Draghi.
“Face ascent China, but also USA”
“When the report was written, the main geopolitical theme was the rise of China. Now, the EU will have to face rates from the new US administration in the coming months, hindering our access to our largest export market. , the highest US tariffs on China will redirect Chinese surcharge in Europe, further affecting European companies.
“We could also face policies designed to attract European companies to produce more in the United States, based on lower taxes, cheaper energy and deregulation. The expansion of industrial capacity in the United States is a fundamental part of the government plan to guarantee That the rates are not inflationary, “added Draghi.
“You can’t say no to everything”
“Some time ago, even before the conclusion of the report, I said to a meeting that cannot be said no to public debt, no to the single market, no to the creation of the union of the capital market. We cannot say no to everything, otherwise You have to be consistent, and admit that you are not able to maintain the fundamental values for which this European Union has been created. he said.
The challenge of the AI
“Since the report (on competitiveness) has been published, the changes that took place are widely in line with the tendencies that had been outlined there. But the sense of urgency to undertake the radical change that the relationship supported has become even more strong ” – he added -” First of all, the rhythm of the progress in artificial intelligence He accelerated quickly. We have seen border models reach almost 90% accuracy in the reference tests for scientific reasoning, passing the scores of human experts. We have also seen models become much more efficient, with training costs down by a ten and inference costs of an over twenty factor. For now, most of the progress is still taking place outside Europe. Eight of the current first ten large linguistic models were developed in the United States, while the other two come from China. Every day we delay, the frontier of technology walks away With us, but the costs falling are also an opportunity for us to recover faster ”
Energy prices
“The prices of natural gas remain highly volatile, increasing about 40% from September, and the margins on the imports of GNL from the United States have increased significantly since last year. Even energy prices have generally increased in all The countries are still 2-3 times higher than those in the United States.
“We have to lower energy prices. This has become imperative not only for traditional industries, but also for advanced technologies. It is estimated that the energy consumption of data-center in Europe rather than tripled by the end of the decade. But it is also increasingly clear that the decarbonisation itself can only be sustainable if its benefits are anticipated “.
“The report identifies a series of reasons for high energy prices in Europe, In addition to the fact that the EU is not an important natural gas manufacturer: the limited coordination of the supply of natural gas, the functioning of the energy market, the delays in the installation of renewable capacityunderdeveloped networks, high taxation and financial margins. These and other factors are all of our creation and therefore can be changed if we have the will to do it “, he adds.
“The report proposes different measures in this regard: reform of the energy market, greater transparency in the energy trade, larger use of long -term energy contracts and long -term purchases of natural gas and massive investments in networks and interconnections. In addition, he asks Not only a faster installation of renewable energies, but also investments in the generation of clean base and flexibility solutions to which we can draw when renewable energies do not generate energy “, highlights Draghi.
Endothermic motor car stop
In the automotive sector, “tools and objectives must be aligned. We cannot impose the stop to combustion engines by saying to an entire production sector that must interrupt a large production line and at the same time does not impose, with the same strength, L‘Installation of charging systems And don’t create interconnections to do it. Things must be aligned. ”
Common debt
“A question raised by many of you was the loan. A premise: the figure of 750-800 billion euros of necessary investments. As I said before, it is a prudent estimate. In reality, it could be even higher if We consider that it does not include investments for the mitigation of climate change and other important objectives.
“And this common debt must be, by definition, supranational, because some countries have a tax space, but not sufficient even for their objectives, while other countries have no tax space. However, keep in mind that this is only a based estimate on the current situation, “he added.
Modernize the European industry
“In addition to acting for modernize the European economy, We must manage the transition for our traditional industries. These industries remain important for Europe. Since 2012, the top 10 sectors with faster growth productivity are made up almost entire of so -called Mid-Tech sectorslike automotive and machinery. The manufacturing sector also uses approx 30 million people, compared to 13 million in the United States. And in this world where geopolitical relationships evolve and protectionism increases, maintain sectors such as steel and chemicals that provide inputs to the entire economy and are essential for defense, it has become strategic. ” President of the ECB and former Premier, Mario Draghi, in his speech to the European Parliament for the Parliamentary Week 2025.
“Supporting traditional industries is often represented as a binary choice. We can choose to let them go and allow resources to move to new sectors; or we can sacrifice the development of new technologies and finally resign ourselves to permanently low growth. But the choice must not be so clear. reforms to make Europe more innovativewe will alleviate many of the compromises between these objectives.
For example, if we use the scale economies of our EU market and integrate ours energy market, We will reduce production costs everywhere. So we will be in a better position to manage the potential repercussions, for example, of the low cost energy supply to the highly energy -intensity industries. If we offer a more competitive return rate in Europe and more efficient capital markets, our savings will naturally stay at home. So we will have a wider reserve of private capital to finance both new technologies and the consolidated industries that maintain a competitive advantage, “he added.