EditVon der Leyen tells Draghi: “The EU Is serious”. But only 15.7% of his report has been implemented
Defence and strategic sectors move ahead, but energy, digitalisation and capital markets reform remain stuck
Faced with Europe’s competitiveness challenges, the EU “is serious”. This is the message from the President of the European Commission after her meeting with Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank and author of the landmark report on the Future of European Competitiveness.
In a post on X published on 20 July following their meeting in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen wrote: “With Mario Draghi we discussed the European competitiveness agenda.” She stressed that the “One Europe, One Market” roadmap – agreed with the European Parliament and the European Council – sets out concrete actions and a clear timetable for implementation.
“We are breaking down barriers across all sectors of our economy. We are supporting groundbreaking innovation, from artificial intelligence to clean technologies. And we are building partnerships that will secure Europe’s future. Because Europe is serious,” von der Leyen assured.
Implementation lags behind
During the midday briefing at the Berlaymont building, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, explained that the meeting was not tied to any special occasion but reflected the central importance of competitiveness on the EU agenda. “There is no particular reason. Competitiveness is a key issue in discussions on Union policies. This is simply another opportunity for the President to discuss the topic with Professor Draghi,” she said.
The encounter – reportedly requested by Draghi himself, according to ANSA – took place nearly two years after the publication of his major report on the Future of European Competitiveness. Yet full implementation is proceeding slowly.
According to the July update of the Draghi Implementation Index, produced by the European Innovation Council through the DraghiWatch observatory, only 60 of the 383 measures examined have been fully implemented – just 15.7%.
Another 98 recommendations have been partially implemented. In total, 158 measures (41.3%) have led to at least some legislative action. The remaining 225 (58.7%) are still being prepared or have not been acted upon.
Compared with the January 2026 reading, the share of fully implemented measures has risen only slightly, from 15.1% to 15.7% (+0.6 percentage points). The broader figure including partial implementation increased from 38.9% to 41.3% (+2.4 points). This progress is significantly slower than the jump recorded between September 2025 and January 2026 (+7.5 points). Since January, only two new recommendations have been fully implemented, while seven others moved into the partially implemented category.
Where progress has been made
The strongest advances are concentrated in areas where economic competitiveness overlaps with security, the reduction of strategic dependencies, and European industrial capacity.
Key achievements highlighted in the report include:
- A binding framework for the gradual phase-out of Russian gas imports, accompanied by national diversification plans and stricter authorisation, monitoring, and reporting obligations for contracts.
- Significant progress in defence: a €90 billion European loan to Ukraine (of which an indicative €60 billion is linked to military industrial capacity) has created a new common financing channel for joint procurement and support for Ukrainian and European production bases. The legislation also introduces faster crisis-response procedures, including urgent derogations and priority requests to companies.
Sectoral implementation rates show a clear pattern. Defence leads with a 78.6% full or partial implementation rate. It is followed by energy-intensive industries (54.8%), clean technologies (53.8%), transport (51.2%), and automotive (50%).
Lagging far behind are energy (21.7% – with only 1 of 83 measures fully implemented), pharmaceuticals (27.8%), and digitalisation/advanced technologies (29.8%).
Other notable steps forward include:
- Simplification of sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations, reducing the burden on smaller companies.
- The European Talent Pool, designed to connect workers from third countries with EU firms facing labour shortages.
- Improved management of rail capacity through better European coordination and digital interoperability.
- Strengthened financial tools linked to Global Gateway to attract more private investment outside the EU and reduce strategic dependencies.
Legislation without market results
According to the observatory, the EU remains far more effective at creating legislative and administrative “architectures” than at delivering concrete market outcomes. As Antonios Nestoras, founder of EPIC, told the Financial Times: “Draghi has won the battle in Brussels… the entire system has realigned itself to his language of competitiveness.” However, “implementation is happening only in spirit, not in law.”
Nestoras points to resistance from member states as a core obstacle: “One of the main problems is that member states are reluctant to embrace this vision, because it means they must stop defending narrowly defined national interests. It is a problem of collective action.”
The most difficult reforms remain weak: capital markets integration, structural reduction of energy costs, faster permitting for strategic infrastructure, full single market integration, telecom consolidation, and large-scale mobilisation of private investment.
“The language of competitiveness has become the organising principle of European politics,” the report notes. Yet the political consensus on Draghi’s diagnosis has not yet translated into sufficient legislative density.
How to overcome fragmentation?
To address the fragmentation of initiatives, the authors propose an European Competitiveness Act, modelled on the Fit for 55 climate package. This would not be a single regulation but a coordinated set of measures with measurable targets on productivity, investment, company size, energy costs, and strategic resilience.
The package should include a list of legislative priorities, a binding timetable to be completed before the end of the current mandate, and a public monitoring system for the responsibilities of the various Commission directorates-general.
The three main pillars identified are:
- Integration of capital markets
- Reduction of energy costs for industry
- Overcoming fragmentation of the single market in telecommunications, defence, energy, finance, services, and public procurement
The article in Italian by EUalive’s partner FocusEurope.it can be found here.
Caption: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen received Mario Draghi in Brussels on 20 July 2026 [Ursula von der Leyen on X]
Updated: July 21, 2026 - 06:19
