Mario Draghi, former President of European Central Bank, warned of a deterioration of the economic landscape at the informal EU leaders’ summit in Belgium. According to Council President António Costa, it is essential to deepen and complete Union’s single market. EU desperately needs to remove internal trade barriers and reduce bureaucracy.
Although it is merely an informal summit, many have already described it as ’decisive’. “I consider this meeting to be one of the most important in the history of the EU,” said Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, before the start of negotiations. “I hope that discussions will lead to concrete decisions with clear deadlines so that we can strengthen the EU’s competitiveness,” the Cypriot president added.
The informal EU leaders’ summit is taking place at Alden Biesen Castle in eastern Belgium.
Reduce barriers, bring down energy costs: Draghi
There was great anticipation surrounding the appearance of Mario Draghi, former ECB President and renowned economist, who in 2024 published the so-called Draghi Report. In his presentation to member states’ leaders, Mr Draghi focused on ’deterioration of the economic landscape’.
According to sources from the meeting, Mario Draghi mentioned several key topics. These include the need to reduce barriers in the EU’s single market, energy costs, and the possibility of a targeted European preference in some economic sectors. He also discussed the decision making process within the EU including the possibility of enhanced cooperations to move faster in some topics.
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“Your framing gave a fresh angle to our discussions, a strong basis for leaders’ reflections today in Alden Biesen,” thanked Council President António Costa to Mr Draghi after presentation.
Costa outlined four main priorities
In his opening remarks, Council President António Costa outlined four main priorities. The first one focuses on deepening and completing EU’s single market which includes removing internal barriers and reducing bureaucracy.
We need to have one vibrant capital market to support small and medium sized companies and startups. – António Costa, Council President
As a second priority Mr Costa mentioned the necessity to scale up European companies. “We need to have one vibrant capital market to support small and medium sized companies and startups, to scale up, to invest in innovation and to modernise EU’s economy,” António Costa said.
Third, geoeconomic context is crucial, according to Mr Costa. “We need to continue our very proactive trade policy and protect our companies from unfair competition, from economic coercion, and to allow them to continue to work and to tackle the issue of the energy costs,” Council President said.
Finally, Mr Costa called to invest more and better. “Today, our priority is to unlock private investment, mobilise our savings to invest in our companies and to create a more dynamic, and vibrant ecosystem for investment,” he added.
