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“Europe risks becoming subordinated, divided, and deindustrialised”, if it does not turn itself into a “genuine federation”, Former Italian Prime Minister and President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said in a speech at the Belgian Ku Leuven University on Monday.
According to Draghi, “power requires Europe to move from confederation to federation” because the global order is “now defunct”.
“A world with less trade and weaker rules would be painful,” he said.
In his speech, delivered as he received an honorary degree from the university, Draghi said he believes that “grouping together small countries does not automatically produce a powerful bloc”, and argued that in areas where Europe has “federated” – trade, competition, the single market, monetary policy – it is “respected as a power and [can] negotiate as one”.
As evidence, he pointed to the “successful” trade agreements recently negotiated with India and Latin America.
“Where we have not – on defence, on industrial policy, on foreign affairs – we are treated as a loose assembly of middle-sized states, to be divided and dealt with accordingly”, Draghi said.
“Of all those now caught between the US and China, Europeans alone have the option to become a genuine power themselves. So we must decide: do we remain merely a large market, subject to the priorities of others? Or do we take the steps necessary to become one power?”, Draghi asked.
“A Europe that cannot defend its interests will not preserve its values for long.”
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