EU’s growth model is at risk, warns Macron

BERLIN

The EU’s growth model is under threat amid global changes, French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Wednesday.

For many years the EU’s growth model was based on low-cost energy from Russia, exports to China, and a defense umbrella from the US, Macron said in his speech at the “Berlin Global Dialogue” conference.

“And everything now is shaken. China has over capacities and is clearly a competitive place, so it's no more secure place for our exports. Russia’s war on Ukraine killed low-cost energy, and killed our competitiveness today,” he said.

Macron warned that the EU member states are also lagging behind the US and China in key sectors like artificial intelligence, electric cars and defense technologies, due to over-regulations, and underinvestment in innovation.

“When you look at the figures we don't invest sufficient money. We have to invest much more European money in these key sectors to build our resilience, our strategic autonomy, and this innovation agenda. The current budget is not sufficient,” he said.

Macron also said that he agrees with the main findings of the former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s recent report on the EU's economic weaknesses.

“I think we have to focus and to clearly rush to deliver this agenda. Because this is a matter of time. We have to be very efficient if we want to have clearly an efficient Europe able to deliver more growth, for preparing the future, and investing on the key pillars I mentioned, and preserving its social model,” he said.