Draghi receives the Cercle award for European Construction. The president of the Italian Council of Ministers warns that economic growth must also be sustainable.
Mario Draghi , president of the Council of Ministers of Italy and who was president of the European Central Bank between 2011 and 2019, received this Friday the first Cercle d’Economia award for European Construction. In a conference chaired by the president of the Cercle d’Economia, Javier Faus, and José Manuel González-Páramo, member of the Board of Directors of the Cercle d’Economia.
Draghi, who received the award from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, thanked the award and highlighted the rapid reaction of the European authorities to the depth of the crisis highlighted by the pandemic “saving millions of jobs.”
The objective must be in his opinion that the economy returns to the growth levels that existed before the pandemic, “and that objective will not be reached without additional stimuli.”
The key is currently, according to Draghi, to stimulate demand and stimulate growth to the extent that it makes it possible to meet the payment of the debt generated. There are still many risks to achieve the expected recovery, according to his opinion. Health risks are an important part of the new uncertainties, but also inflation or the different speeds in the exit from the crisis between the US and Europe.
Public aid to avoid the closure of companies are fundamental elements to get out of the crisis, but also to keep public and private debt under control. “You don’t have to run too far, you have to build growth on sustainability and equity,” said Draghi.
González-Páramo has glossed Draghi’s career, from his beginnings as a brilliant student to his career as President of the ECB and as President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, to later delve into the main characteristics of his character, of which he has highlighted his eminently practical vision of life and public management. “His prowess on the political level has bordered on excellence,” González-Paramo said.
This practical vision of the economy was reflected in the way of facing the financial crisis. The so-called Draghi monetary expansion plan was able to minimize the effects. Draghi’s message of confidence that the ECB would spend whatever was necessary to preserve the value of the euro was a turning point in the Eurozone crisis,
In Faus’s opinion, Draghi marked the way for a new Europe that pampers the economy without underestimating the need to also bet on social protection, sustainability and the welfare state.
