The Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness: challenges of participation, engagement and economic geography

The Mario Draghi report of September 2024 potentially represents a key milestone in the history and political economy of the European Union, especially when it is discussed in tandem with the Enrico Letta’s independent report of April 2024. However, both reports fail to address the challenges arising from the fundamental transition from interregional convergence to economic divergence which fuels the geography of discontent within many of Europe’s ‘left behind’ regions, and which has the power to stymie or even totally undermine well-considered and well-intentioned European Union policies. We discuss the challenges of citizen participation and engagement essential for addressing the economic geography challenges which Draghi entirely ignores.