'EU will be in recession by the end of the year..'8 Nov 2023 14:50
The former president of the European Central Bank has said the EU will be in recession by the end of the year amid surging energy costs.
Mario Draghi, also the former Italian prime minister, said the continent’s economy is also struggling with low productivity and a lack of skilled labour.
He added that the EU will not survive beyond being an economic bloc without further integration.
He told the FT’s Global Boardroom conference: “To have an economy capable of supporting an ageing society at the rhythm we have in Europe, we have to have much higher productivity.
Mr Draghi’s comments come as the EU struggles to recover from the pandemic and the energy price shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said: “Either Europe acts together and becomes a deeper union, a union capable of expressing a foreign policy and a defence policy, aside from all the economic policies . . . or I am afraid the European Union will not survive other than being a single market'.