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European leaders should “listen carefully” to the words of Mario Draghi as the continent looks for a new recipe to overcome the impact of tariffs on the bloc’s economy, the chief of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development told Euronews.
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Mathias Cormann said the European Union is a “uniquely successful story” but faces structural challenges in a changing world where multilateral trade and international rules are being put to the test.
Cormann said EU leaders would be wise to listen to the recommendations of former ECB president Draghi, who penned a report in 2024 calling for radical change in the functioning of the EU. On Monday, Draghi repeated his call suggesting the EU should be ran in the spirit of a “true federation” rather than a mosaic of individual countries.
“Mario Draghi is an exceptional leader,” Cormann told the flagship morning show Europe Today on Euronews. “Everybody would be well-advised to listen very carefully.”
“Europe is an overwhelmingly successfully continent, but it’s facing challenges. The EU has to position itself in the best possible way in evolving circumstances,” he added.
European Union leaders are set to meet at an informal retreat next week in Belgium, with Draghi in attendance at the invitation of European Council President António Costa.
In an interview with Euronews last month, the Council chief said he expects EU leaders to give “clear political guidance” to implement the recommendations laid out in the Draghi report – influential, but largely unimplemented – in which he called on the EU to radically transform itself or face “slow agony” in a new age of aggressive geopolitics.
Draghi has repeatedly called for the bloc to work as a true union.
He has also expressed support for joint borrowing by EU member states to finance large projects of common interest such as security and defense and called for the integration of the European capital markets to attract and scale up investments.
Appetite for win-win trade relations despite tariff hammer
Cormann also suggested trade remains a force for good in global relations and said appetite for international cooperation has not receded despite the introduction of worldwide tariffs by the US government and the weaponisation of trade surpluses.
He also pointed to “legitimate” concerns around market distortions, pointing to Chinese trade practices. The European Union has signaled Beijing must address a growing trade deficit and warned about a second “China shock” as the world’s second-largest economy floods the world with goods it cannot place in its domestic market alone.
“There are areas where we are concerned about market-distorting practices and excessive levels of state subsidies,” Cormann said. “We would certainly prefer it if there was stronger alignment with market-based practices.”
