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Couple of things to post. First let's talk about the Draghi-report. Mario Draghi was PM of Italy briefly (for over a year, Meloni replaced him) and was the prez of the European Central Bank. Our dear Ursula asked him to write something that supports the current school of thought that collapses Europe plans to increase Europe's competitiveness. His report is 400 pages, not that long, but frankly, there are many better things to read, including Adam Smith's wealth of nations. However news sources are inadequate, I found. Shittiest one: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-mario-draghi-report-unleashed-eurozone-debt-crisis-ecb-competition-investment/ > here are 5 points, all about investing more This one crowns the previous turdcake: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/business/europe-economy-competitiveness.html Actual quote: > Mr. Draghi’s report was short on details about the source of the enormous investment required to reverse Europe’s economic decline. > “Where is the money going to come from?” Ms. van Rij said. Good question. Good snippet: > Cheap Russian gas is no longer available, and energy prices have soared. Those prices have come off their peak, but European companies still pay two to three times more for electricity than U.S. companies do > the report found Literally what Orbán is saying for years now, Jesus fucking Christ. Situation sucks in Europe because no source of cheap energy. But this article actually lists some suggestions from the Report: - shared energy grid - joint military procurement - advanced training programs for workers All right. It also notes that: > the bloc depends on a handful of suppliers like China for critical raw materials so have to make: > preferential trade agreements and investment in countries that could serve as alternate suppliers. And he finds problems in "bureaucracy" but wants more centralization which means more bureaucracy...: > European countries to be more coordinated > barriers such as costly regulation can be burdensome > Far-right parties that have been hostile to some of the European Union’s initiatives and wary of extending more power to Brussels > Many of Mr. Draghi’s proposals would require unanimous consent from member states This Hungarian article (of the opposition media) says the Fidesz reads the report, but they don't like it. Complements the NY Times article, makes the points above clearer. https://hvg.hu/eurologus/20240909_versenykepesseg_draghi Basically this article outright says have to close down the market in front of Chinese products see Chinese investments on the Hungary, battery factories. Say good bye to cheap Russian energy see Hungarian gas and oil imports. EU should give up unanimous voting to force through the decisions which some countries don't want to vote in see the muh Hungarian veto cries in past years. Basically these are from the reports the rest of the article is various chime ins from unrelated people. So all this bs boils down to this: Europe has no energy and raw mats, so production is expensive, European products and companies are not competitive. With "AI industry" emerging energy demands grow exponentially. Go Green policies make everything more expensive. Can't allow China to profit because China is bad competitor of US. Can't allow Russia to profit because Russia is bad competitor of US. Expose tariff in Chinese products and sanction Russia. Africa could be a nice source except Europe (France) is getting kicked out by US, China, and Russia. This leaves US as supplier, and an insecure Middle East for energy. South America can serve raw resources, but that's basically buying from US (related topic: Monroe doctrine). So basically Europe will turn into a market for the US, a colony, where they pump the wealth from. What would actually help: cooperate with Russia. Russia means cheap energy and returning to Africa cheap resources, and investing there would open up markets. What will most definitely not help: anything Draghi proposes whatever he actually wrote.