Chatham House
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Draghi wants real decision-making power in Europe, not a federal Big Bang
EXPERT COMMENT
Competitiveness is not enough. The former president of the European Central Bank’s call for ‘pragmatic federalism’ would require Europe to strengthen its decision-making process if it wants to weigh in as a fully-fledged power. This will need bolder coalitions of the willing.
The metaphor remains painfully true: Europe is an economic giant but a political dwarf.
Mario Draghi stressed how this imbalance has become unbearable in a short but sharp speech delivered at the Catholic University of Leuven on 2 February. The Italian economist and politician did not mince his words in pointing out the only path that, in his view, would enable Europe to grow politically: that of ‘pragmatic federalism.’
With this formula – which he had laid out in an earlier speech on 24 October last year in Oviedo, Spain – Draghi adds an institutional dimension to his much- vaunted 2024 report on European competitiveness.
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Original article link: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/draghi-wants-real-decision-making-power-europe-not-federal-big-bang
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