Confronted with the return of Donald Trump, EU leaders on Friday are set to commit to deeply reform Europe's economy and tackle challenges highlighted by a blockbuster report. Ex-European Central Bank head Mario Draghi was tasked last year with preparing the report that would steer the direction of the next five years of the EU's executive arm. The big takeaway? Europe must invest up to 800 billion euros ($863 billion) more a year to avoid falling further behind the United States. But with Germany mired in political turmoil, divergent national interests and bitter disagreements over how to face the challenges head on, there is no guarantee that the EU will be able to step up to the mark.

If the European Union does not take heed of his report's recommendations published in September, Draghi warned the 27-country bloc would face a "slow agony" of decline. His report has taken on greater urgency, experts say, with Trump's resounding comeback in Tuesday's US election. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly professed his love for tariffs and threatened to punish Europe for taking advantage of the United States with higher duties." The Draghi report itself, in a way, becomes even more interesting and urgent in relation to this outcome," said Ian Lesser, vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank.

There is a lot in Draghi's 400-page tome for the leaders to digest before lunch. Besides his call for more investment to improve economic output, Draghi controversially called for common borrowing – an idea torpedoed by Germany – as well as reforming the EU's approach to competition policy to encourage big spending. Leaders' talks will "focus on funding, funding and funding", an EU diplomat said, but the ways to raise the money are "all open questions" in the months ahead.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan