Overview
- Draghi, who accepted the Charlemagne Prize on Thursday in Aachen, warned that Europe can no longer assume U.S. security guarantees and must be ready to act on its own.
- He urged “pragmatic federalism,” allowing smaller coalitions of EU states to move first, and called for turning Article 42.7—the EU’s mutual‑defense clause—into real plans, forces, and command structures.
- He raised his estimate of Europe’s added strategic investment need to about €1.2 trillion per year, citing defense commitments and supply shocks that have pushed up costs for energy, goods, and everyday living.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in his laudatio, pressed the EU to implement Draghi’s competitiveness report now, praising its clear diagnosis and ambitious responses.
- Independent tracking shows slow follow‑through on that agenda, with only 43 of 383 recommendations fully implemented after a year, underscoring political bottlenecks on capital markets, energy links, and tech.