The future we want post-pandemic

Former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi provided his first public speech during the “2020 Rimini Meeting” (Italy) since leaving the European Central Bank last year. He shared his vision for post-pandemic economic recovery, describing current situation and providing some pragmatic recommendations to seek the path of reconstruction and to choose the future we want to build.

The speech is a call to “re-affirm the values and objectives on which we want to rebuild our societies and economies, in Italy and in Europe”. Among those values, Mario Draghi remarks the multilateralism, the social protection system and the global rule of law as some relevant signs of identity of the European Union (EU). All of them should be reaffirmed nowadays to design the future, despite the uncertainty about current “frame of reference” and the “new order” that some envisage after the pandemic.

In current context, he urges to use public debt for productive purposes: investment in human capital, in crucial infrastructure for production and in research. He points out that only in that case, it will be seen as “good debt”, ensuring its sustainability. Political returns shouldn´t guide the use of this debt.

In order to return to a sustainable growth path he provides several recommendations: “it will be vital to provide income security, especially for the poorest; to strengthen social cohesion, to protect the environment, reinforce health systems…”. 

Finally, and after reviewing recent steps forward taken in the EU “where responsibility goes hand in hand with, and legitimizes, solidarity”, he concludes with and optimistic approach on Europe: “Europe can emerge strengthened from this crisis, the pandemic is an opportunity to design a common future – as we have done so many times in the past”.