On 9 September, former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi presented a report on the future of the EU’s competitiveness, featuring recommendations for strengthening it.
Presented to the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, the report points out that growth in the EU has been slowing, driven by weakening productivity growth.
The report identifies three urgent priorities: accelerate innovation and find new growth engines; bring down high energy prices while continuing to decarbonise and shift to a circular economy; and react to a world of less stable geopolitics, where dependencies are becoming vulnerabilities and Europe can no longer rely on others for its security.
To manage these transformations, the report proposes a new industrial strategy for Europe focused on four main areas: redressing Europe’s slowing productivity growth by closing the innovation gap; lowering energy prices and capturing the industrial opportunities of decarbonisation, increasing security while reducing dependencies and mobilising investments to drive these transitions.
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Cooperatives Europe, the voice of co-operative enterprises in Europe, welcomed the report, noting that “many aspects of this report echo the longstanding concerns of Cooperatives Europe”.
These include the recognition of the need to close the skills gap in strategic industries and the acknowledgement of excessive administrative burdens as obstacles to innovation and finance access, which “align closely” with the issues the apex has been advocating for.
The report does not explicitly mention the social economy or co-operatives but Cooperatives Europe says “its emphasis on preserving social inclusion while boosting business competitiveness aligns well with co-operative values and practices”. The apex welcomed the report’s balanced approach, adding that it was “a promising direction for future policy development”.
But Cooperatives Europe also warns that “some elements warrant a more precautionary approach”.
“Draghi’s vision of ‘EU’s fragmented approach to state aid’ and idea to introduce ‘a new EU-wide legal statute for innovative start-ups’ is one such area,” says Cooperatives Europe. “While potentially beneficial, we’ll need to work to ensure it accommodates co-operative principles and doesn’t inadvertently disadvantage the co-operative model.
“Similarly, any changes to the EU’s approach to State aid will require our close attention to advocate for fair treatment of co-operatives within any new framework.”
Cooperatives Europe says it will monitor how the report’s recommendations are incorporated into future EU policies.
“We’re committed to advocating for co-operative interests throughout this process and ensuring our members’ voices are heard,” the apex added. “The Draghi report represents a significant moment in shaping the future of the European economy. As co-operatives, we have a unique opportunity to contribute to and benefit from these proposed changes, ensuring that the future of Europe’s competitiveness is built on principles of cooperation, sustainability, and social responsibility.”
The European confederation of industrial and service cooperatives (Cecop) also reacted to the report.
“Industrial and service co-ops are ideal partners to fulfil the vision of European competitiveness presented in the Draghi report by linking innovation, sustainability and social cohesion,” it said on social media.
REScoop, the European federation of energy communities, welcomed the report’s acknowledgement of the need to remove fossil gas from the EU’s energy mix and some of its recommendations, such as the proposal to prioritise integrated planning and reduce permitting times for new renewables production.
However, the apex warned that “at the core of these challenges, which the Draghi report seems to miss, is Europe’s short-sighted market-oriented thinking, blindly driven by GDP growth.”
The apex also disapproved of the report’s suggestions to get rid of gas by doubling down on ‘new’ nuclear, or to tackle red tape for new energy infrastructure and renewables production by removing laws meant to ensure the environmental impact of projects is properly assessed.
“It comes to no surprise, then, that the report fails to champion holistic approaches, such as the social economy, as highlighted by the co-operative sector, where economic, environmental, and social progress are integrated and viewed as complementary, rather than being centred around profit for competitiveness’ sake. Lastly, the report lacks any meaningful emphasis on citizen engagement in the energy transition. While it spares one paragraph to mention this topic, it does not make any concrete link with the rollout of renewables production or reducing barriers that currently prevent households and small enterprises from participating in the market, for instance through energy sharing or investment support,” said REScoop, whose full analysis of the report is available here.
This article was amended on 18 October to include REScoop’s comments to the report.
