The crisis “is over. The recovery of the euro area is resilient and increasingly broader across countries and sectors”. This was stated by the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, receiving an honorary degree from the University of Tel Aviv. Domestic demand “supported by the ECB's monetary policy – he continued – is the main engine of the recovery. Five million people have found work since 2013 and unemployment, while still high, is at a new eight-year low. Globally, “the financial sector is now more resilient. The global economic outlook is improving and the downside risks are diminishing”.
According to Draghi, then, “what we need in Europe, to ensure that economic growth and greater well-being last over time, are structural reforms and a new understanding of the objectives of the European Union. We need to take new steps forward” in the construction of Europe.
The institutional architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union “remains incomplete from various points of view – added the number one of the Eurotower – The crisis has made visible the structural weaknesses in our construction and has forced us to face them. The maintenance work began with the creation of the Banking Union”.
But the work “is far from finished and the challenges we have to face go beyond the EMU. They concern security, migration, defense and, in general, all those problems that can only be tackled by pooling sovereignty. And all these challenges have become more difficult than in the past”.
Today, Draghi said again in his speech, “we feel a new wave of energy rising in asking for joint action from Europe. The European Union and the euro have always had the support of the majority of European citizens but, often, only the voices of the opponents could be heard. Today, the silent majority has regained its voice, its pride and self-esteem. Only by working together will the nations of Europe be able to overcome these challenges” and there is “a real opportunity to progress”.
The outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, recalled Draghi, and the consequent sovereign debt crisis in Europe "led to a deep recession all over the world, to a sharp increase in unemployment, making clear the incompleteness of some parts of the 'institutional architecture of the EU", all things that represent "fertile ground for giving voice to a populist and nationalistic rhetoric".
But that period of crisis “also served to improve understanding of economic and political forces and to translate this new knowledge into action. The crisis, therefore, has led to a sort of creative destruction with the critical review of recognized paradigms, with the identification of incorrect practices that have been replaced by more solid ones and with new research that has addressed previously neglected aspects of our society. .
This “renewed effort has simultaneously deepened our understanding of economics and shaped our policy response,” Draghi concluded.
