The ECR Group sees Mario Draghi’s report, presented today to the European Parliament, as confirmation that continuous introduction of restrictive regulations and administrative burdens, especially over the last five years, have done nothing but further weigh down industry and hinder the ability to be competitive.

The European Union must learn to limit itself, so that entrepreneurial initiative and civil liberty are not stifled.

In his speech, ECR Co-Chairman Nicola Procaccini said:

“For years we have been calling for common sense in the pursuit of a just and shared goal such as environmental conservation.

“We have to come back to the realisation that environmental conservation, as well as social inclusion policies, are a privilege that only prosperous and dynamic economies can afford.

“We believe that we need a self-limitation of European legislative and regulatory activity. Today as yesterday, we believe in innovation, in technological neutrality, in the free market. We believe in human beings, who, if left free to pursue their own happiness, make the world grow.”

Mr Procaccini’s speech reads in full:

Thank you President,

talking about competitiveness today in this Chamber is right, and it is late. I thank President Draghi for his valuable contribution of analysis. I only regret that it comes after, or rather because of, the mistakes made during a political season, the last one, dominated by the red and green lefts.

For years we have been calling for common sense in the pursuit of a just and shared goal such as environmental conservation. For years we have fought against measures that appeared furiously radical and short-sighted looking at the international geopolitical framework.

The result of those mistakes is all in the Draghi report. An abrupt, heavy, but not unexpected loss of competitiveness. Not matched by the benefit to the planet that we would all like. 2023 was the year with the highest global CO2emissions ever, despite the fact that they plummeted in the European Union.

We are the only major region in the world to have introduced a significant price on its CO2 emissions. Which translates into higher production costs and the price of the end product, within a market that is increasingly global, but also increasingly uneven in its starting conditions.

It has already been said: European companies face electricity costs 2-3 times higher than the US, not to mention China. The price of natural gas is even 5 times higher than in the US.

Of course, with big investments we will still be able to change course, but if the EU continues to self-sabotage its economy, well, it will be like emptying the sea with a teaspoon.

We have to come back to the realisation that environmental conservation, as well as social inclusion policies, are a privilege that only prosperous and dynamic economies can afford.

Even this morning, in the conference of presidents, I happened to hear words from the left that betray a feeling of annoyance towards economic competitiveness. As if it were something to be stigmatised, to be contained, to be sacrificed on the altar of environmentalism. Something sinisterly similar to the concept of ‘happy degrowth’ that we had to deal with a few years ago. It’s socialism coming back in through the window after having been shown the door in the last century.

On the contrary, we believe that we need a self-limitation of European legislative and regulatory activity. Today as yesterday, we believe in innovation, in technological neutrality, in the free market. We believe in human beings, who, if left free to pursue their own happiness, make the world grow.