Draghi's Rhine Group seeks to fix Europe's economic drift

Mario Draghi's new Rhine Group is positioning itself as a vehicle to turn his landmark report on European competitiveness into political reality, according to the group's executive director in an interview with Euronews.

The initiative, named after the river that winds through the heart of the continent, brings together a coalition of figures from across Europe with the stated aim of fixing what Draghi identified as the bloc's deepening economic malaise.

In the interview, executive director Luis Garicano outlined the group's mission, its membership, and the timing of its launch — a moment when the European Union faces mounting pressure from global rivals and internal divisions.

The Rhine Group's emergence comes at a delicate moment for the European project. Draghi's 2024 report on the future of European competitiveness warned that the continent risked falling behind the United States and China in innovation, productivity and strategic autonomy. The report proposed sweeping reforms to energy policy, capital markets and industrial strategy, but its recommendations have largely remained on the shelf.

The group's name carries deliberate symbolism. The Rhine is not merely a geographic feature; it is the artery of European industry, running through Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. By invoking it, Draghi appears to signal that the project is about the continent's economic heartland, not the peripheral institutions of Brussels.

For Italy, the stakes are particularly high. Draghi, a former European Central Bank president who served as Italy's prime minister from 2021 to 2022, has long argued that the eurozone cannot function without deeper fiscal and political integration. His home country, burdened by a large public debt and sluggish growth, stands to benefit disproportionately from a more integrated European financing channel.

Garicano's remarks suggest the group intends to move beyond diagnosis. The question, he indicated, is how to convert analysis into action — a challenge that has frustrated every previous attempt at structural reform in the EU, where national vetoes and competing interests routinely dilute ambitious proposals.

The launch also carries a geopolitical dimension. With the United States tightening its trade posture and China advancing its industrial policy, Europe's ability to act collectively is no longer an internal matter. The Rhine Group's founders appear to believe the window for reform is closing.

Euronews's interview did not disclose a detailed policy platform, but the group's existence alone signals that Draghi has not abandoned his campaign. Whether the Rhine Group can achieve what the report could not — translating diagnosis into legislation — will be tested in the coming months as EU leaders return from summer recess.