Scale is the key to EU independence, Enrico Letta tells ELIAMEP-IOBE event

Greek Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis (left) listens arsenic Enrico Letta speaks during the lawsuit astatine the IE Competitiveness Hub successful Athens.

Marking 40 years since the signing of the Single European Act, erstwhile Italian premier curate Enrico Letta joined Eurogroup President and Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis astatine the IE Competitiveness Hub successful Athens connected Tuesday to warn that the European Union indispensable clasp a “mentality of scale” to survive a shifting planetary order.

The event, “Whither EU Competitiveness?,” co-hosted by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), focused connected the urgent request for technological sovereignty and fiscal integration to antagonistic the dominance of the US and China.

Letta, who is presently dean of IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs successful Madrid, offered a candid appraisal of the continent’s taste barriers to growth. “In Europe, we similar small projects. We are small countries … the kingdom of small and medium-sized enterprises,” Letta said. “The occupation is that the world has changed successful scale, and we person not moved toward the integration of our fiscal markets.”

He warned that fragmentation has near the bloc successful a state of “asymmetric dependence” connected overseas powers for vigor and finance. “Independence, successful today’s world, means the quality to get the indispensable size,” Letta added.

Pierrakakis echoed this urgency, stating that Europe is already connected “Plan B” owed to chronic delays successful tech investment. He cited the 5G epoch arsenic a missed accidental where Europe possessed the technology but lacked the unified regulatory model to compete.

“We request much integration successful Europe, slope mergers, and larger businesses,” Pierrakakis noted, praising Letta’s caller high-level reports for shaping a “common vocabulary” for reform.

The discussion, moderated by Bloomberg Athens bureau main Viktoria Dendrinou, highlighted that the window for enactment is closing. Both speakers concluded that a uncommon “alignment of the stars” offers a unique governmental accidental to destruct trade barriers. “There is nary alternate plan,” Letta warned. “If we miss this opportunity, we whitethorn ne'er retrieve the loss.”