The Draghi report is already on the table. But above all we already have the massive propaganda about the Draghi report on the table. Some will use it to say that we need to pick up the pace, that Draghi is criticising the lack of ambition and that we cannot give in to the temptation to ‘go backwards’, that the 800 billion euros a year must be invested immediately, and that we must start raising taxes and issuing debt now.
Others will turn to Draghi to make eloquent speeches about over-regulation, free enterprise (perhaps they won’t even dare to use this expression), competitiveness and productivity, but that these 800 billion euros per year must be invested immediately, and that it is time to start raising taxes and issuing debt now.
There will be countless debates, discussions and events around the Draghi report. General and sectoral, national, regional and global. They will all talk about the Draghi report, forgetting that Draghi is also part of the problem, the cause of what he seems to denounce, responsible for the mistakes made by a surrenderist, pacifist, Wokist and cowardly European policy.
Only politicians from one side of the political spectrum, who will almost certainly be labelled anti-European, anti-democratic and anti-everything, will dare to say this for the mere fact of dissenting, and dissenting strongly. Draghi would be entitled to write that report; that and any others he likes, and even to write that report itself. But if he does not start by apologising for his mistakes and strategies, any European is entitled – obliged, I would say – to criticise him in the strongest terms.
It is true that Von der Leyen has enacted policies that can be criticized. But it was Merkel who called for millions of illegal immigrants to come to Europe in the crisis of 2015, it was France that applauded the Arab Springs promoted by Obama, it was Rajoy who signed in Spain the death sentence to the countryside by signing the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), and with them all the European chancellors, who not only signed it but made it their political, social, economic, environmental and moral roadmap.
It was not Von der Leyen who was the author of the European Development Consensus or who for years paralysed defence spending or military research in all European nations. It was the prime ministers and presidents of all the popular and socialist governments (in this there is no distinction), from the CDU to the Spanish Popular Party, passing through the PD in Italy, the social democrats of Northern Europe, the Greens in Austria or the liberals in Holland. All of them. Without exception.
For this reason, and of course, the Draghi report must be read, but I think that as a reading guide it should be taken into account: 1) Draghi is a privileged part of those ‘elites’ responsible for Europe’s decline; 2) from the first to the last paragraph, unravel the text by identifying who, how and by how much will benefit from the measures he proposes; 3) do not forget that every economic decision involves a political conception of man and society and a moral assessment of human actions; 4) in the same way that political doctrines or decisions produce incalculable economic damage (read the practical application of communism and socialism), do not underestimate the possibility that decisions taken on the basis of economic criteria produce political damage (social, cultural or moral) that is equally incalculable and irreparable.
Only if you take these four points into account will you be prepared to read the Draghi report and make the most of it. Otherwise, you will end up applauding and fervently calling for annual investments of 800 billion euros, without caring who will have to pay for it and how. Money, don’t forget, has a price.