Mr.Draghi’s report will resonate positively with struggling industry in Europe

The much-anticipated Draghi Report on restoring the lost competitiveness of Europe is out, and it’s an urgent call for very specific action. Thankfully, the report does not simply contain a thorough analysis of problems and high-level conclusions, but it also goes the extra mile, proposing concrete and sector-specific solutions.

Unlike most “proposals” by theoretical economists in Brussels, who have long ago distanced themselves from the reality and the economics of industrial production, many of the suggestions in Mr. Draghi’s report will resonate positively with struggling industry in Europe, not in the least because they touch upon costs.

I will invite everyone to read thoroughly the comprehensive “in-depth analysis & recommendations” before rushing to “summarize” and oversimplify. Europe cannot afford to treat this report as a transient social-media flare.

Among other topics, the text crucially examines measures and targeted concepts for energy-intensive industries (including electro-intensives which have been overlooked or even frowned upon by policy makers for years), critical raw materials, electricity markets & grids and defense; importantly, the report’s proposals call for a reassessment of a long-established anti-growth (and anti-industry) mindset, which has led us to where we are today.

As I’ve repeatedly stressed in the past, in my capacity as CEO of Metlen Energy & Metals and also as President of Eurometaux (European Metals Association) for the past two years -and it's promising that the understanding is shared- if we tackle the massive (and in some cases structural) production cost gap with other jurisdictions, mostly caused by regulation and policy, we can be optimistic about the future of Europe’s economy and societal welfare.