Which train to Europe will Ukraine be in time for?

The EU economy is choosing a direction, and Ukraine needs to decide whether it can jump on board.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have announced a strategy for renewing the EU's economic development.

This is not an official document, but an analytical report that Draghi prepared to show how to "restart" the EU economy, which is losing out to the U.S. and Asia. The report has been a long time coming, and it is deliberately written in a very ambitious way - not all countries will agree at first. But written by a brilliant economist, it shows opportunities for development. The problems have long been described - lack of competitiveness, dependence on third countries for both materials and exports.

Among the decisions that have already leaked from the meetings and leaks to the press are:

• focus on investment in innovation and technology;
• focus on reducing dependence on unfriendly countries, particularly in materials;
• focus on domestic military production and cooperation between EU countries;
• the need for a systemic energy development strategy, which, among other things, includes investments in networks.

(All of these are areas that the Ukraine Facility Platform deals with, what a surprise)

The main thing is that all of this requires a lot of money, and this money needs to be sought from the private sector. European economists want businesses to work better and more efficiently, with an eye to security.

What is important for Ukraine in this? If Ukraine is serious about European integration, then in these areas it has to look for ways to offer Europeans what they lack. The ability to innovate (hello, IT), the ability to quickly develop weapons solutions (hello, private defence initiatives), the ability to quickly build generation and networks.

But this is all about private capital, private initiatives, not about the valleys of pink unicorns that we present at every reform conference. Draghi's report is the direction of the EU's development, which can show us which train car we will get into.

Source

About the author. Roman Vybranovskyi, Ukrainian journalist, Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Human Capital

The editors do not always share the views expressed by the blog authors.