Draghi Plays as Anti-Globalist, with an Eye to Brussels

Mario Draghi, who is running to replace Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission President, in the highly likely case that she won’t be re-elected, gave a speech at the conference of the National Association for Business Economics, where he received the Paul Volcker Lifetime Achievement Award for Economic Policy in Washington. Covered by Italian media, he proclaimed the death of globalization (due to disruptions of the global supply chain provoked by geopolitical changes) and urged the need for more government spending, including higher deficits. Draghi is thus appeasing a large constituency which is unhappy with the European Commission’s fiscal austerity, albeit alienating Germany, the Netherlands and other lovers of balanced budgets. However, with “government,” Mario Draghi does not mean sovereign national governments, but post-Westphalian supranational institutions such as the EU Brussels regime. And on top of spending priorities is ... defense. “There is a strong need to coordinate our defense expenditures in order to avoid duplications and wastes. On the other hand, we must invest in some defense sectors and all this is possible only with a common vision of defense and foreign policy.”