"The EU will have to deal with Trump. Doubtless His presidency will make a big difference in relations between the United States and Europe". This was stated by the former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, on the occasion of the informal summit of the European Union (EU) in the Hungarian capital Budapest which will have as its main focus the European competitiveness.
"What Europe can no longer do anything but postpone decisions, many times decisions have been postponed waiting for consensus and then consensus has never arrived,” Draghi said. “I hope that we will find a unified spirit with which we will be able to find the best from these great changes. Going in no particular order? We are too small, we are not going anywhere,” he stressed.
Draghi: "We will have to negotiate with Trump"
"We need to negotiate with our American ally“, continued the former number one of the ECB, answering a question on effects of Trump's election at the White House will have on Europe-US relations. For him, the indications of the Competitiveness report in Europe, were “already urgent, given the economic situation we are in today”, now “they have become even more urgent after the elections in the United States“, because, he warns, “there is no doubt that theTrump presidency will make a big difference in relations between the United States and Europe. Not necessarily all in a negative sense, but we certainly will have to take note of it,” Draghi observed.
“Certainly (Trump, ed) will give further impetus to the so-called high tech, where we are already far behind, and this is the driving sector of productivity. Already now the difference in productivity between the United States and Europe is very large, so we will have to act”, explained the former prime minister, recalling that “a large part of the indications” of his report on competitiveness are focused on this theme.
“Trump will give a lot boost in innovative sectors e will greatly protect traditional industries, those where we export the most to the United States - he underlined -. And therefore we will have to negotiate with the American ally, with a united spirit in such a way as to protect our European producers too".
Draghi on the common public funding
Returning to Europe, not everyone agrees with the idea of Common investments and European finances to relaunch Europe, or is it instead indispensable? “Let's say yes, it is indispensable, but it is not the first thing,” Draghi said in response to journalists' questions at the Budapest summit.
“What the report says,” he explained, “is that there are many other decisions that can be taken without immediately addressing the issue of common public funding. This is clearly necessary for some common projects, of common European interest, and it is expected that these projects will have common funding. An example,” the former Prime Minister continued, “is the interconnections in the energy field.”
Draghi: “It is possible to spend 2% of GDP on Defense while respecting the Stability Pact”
Finally, Draghi also spoke about a topic very dear to Trump: the increase in defense spending by European states. According to the former prime minister “it is possible to spend 2% of GDP on defense respecting the Stability Pact. A whole series of decisions will have to be made, it is useless to say whether it is possible or not. Today we have to decide what to do because this is the new situation, the aspect is then solid”.
