“First of all, we need to reduce the price of energy,” minister said Draghi. Industry pays two to three times as much for electricity in Europe as in the U.S., and this is “a major competitive disadvantage,” Draghi said, adding that a fragmented and undeveloped energy market across the EU has made the situation worse.
This will matter even more in the future, since technology and artificial intelligence in particular — two sectors expected to be the pillars of growth in the future —are becoming increasingly energy-intensive, he argued. And better application of technology is crucial to closing the gap with the U.S.
“If we were to exclude the tech sector, EU productivity growth over the past twenty years would be at par with that of the U.S.,” he said. “But the gap could widen further with the rapid development and diffusion of artificial intelligence.”
He underlined the importance of removing cross-border barriers to trade within the EU, especially in digital markets. In innovation, he said, the EU faced a €270 billion annual gap in investment.
“The EU therefore needs to set [Research and Innovation] as a collective priority,” he said.
The Carlos V award, given to those who contribute to the “enhancement of Europe’s cultural and historical values or to the European Union’s process of integration,” is resonant with significance.
The 16th century Habsburg king and Emperor whom it commemorates aimed to build the monarchia universalis — a realm embracing all of Europe. And in his time, he got closer to that goal than anyone since the Romans.
But history, in the end, had different plans: a religious uprising in Germany led by a little-known monk named Martin Luther thwarted him, and the king retired to the monastery of Yuste humbled.
