Ursula's weak spot

   Mario Draghi is not an economist!  

He is a major financier and, as President of the European Central  Bank, in the looming crisis of 2011, he saw to the survival of the Euro. After that, as a non-political intellectual, he was briefly Prime Minister of his country, Italy, only to be removed by party politicians who voted him out. He truly is a great man. 

However, he made a mistake in accepting Ursula von der  Leyen's request, made to him in summer 2023, to produce a report on how to improve European competitiveness. That is an economic subject but Draghi is not an economist! While he has worked hard on that report, looking exclusively inside he European Union, and has identified the many rules, methods and obstacles to the efficient functioning of our processes of production, transportation and internal trade, and was highly praised for the resulting 2024 report, almost nobody wanted to see that the only overwhelming reason we cannot properly compete lies precisely outside the EU, in the so very low poduction costs in China. Against those low costs we cannot compete and as a result our industry is slowly but steadily going down the drain. Almost all products we buy now come from China, we all know that. You do not even have to be an economist to see that glaring truth. but Draghi didn't see it.

Ursula made a mistake in asking him, Draghi a mistake of accepting, and almost everyone else made the mistake of taking Draghi's report seriously, while it left out the real reason for the competitiveness problem. Why is simple common sense so completely absent in Brussels? 

More than five years ago, Ursula appointed the excellent Josip Borrell as commissioner for foreign Affairs. She recently chose the equally competent Kaja Kallas as his successor. Ursula most often chooses very well. But in her choices she looks solely at political reputation, never at knowledge. And that breaks up when you need specific knowledge for a job. Ursula does not understand that an economic appointment demands economic knowledge! That is how, end 2019, she appointed the ex-PM of Italy, Paolo Gentiloni, as European Commissioner for the economy. Over the ensueing five years, Gentiloni has done nothing useful either. He too is a politician, not an economist. He too was never able to point out the only real reason why we cannot compete. The mistake Ursula made with Gentiloni and Draghi is thus systemic. She makes that error every time and will most likely continue doing so. But this economic issue is killing our industry and our strength, and is more important than most other issues right now. Can someone please tell Ursula? In future, for economic jobs, she should appoint economists, not a politician or a financier! It is high time this Brussels stupidity be righted and its dire consequences corrected. People are still looking at the Draghi report as going to be useful.