The man credited with saving the euro and the discussions over the European competitiveness with his report to reignite growth, now faces an unexpected accusation: that his latest attempt to save Europe’s competitiveness risks exposing—and perhaps deepening—the very divisions he claims to address. 

Is Europe’s ‘Competitiveness Man’ causing division in Europe?

Ricardo Martins

Mario Draghi’s new think tank, born out of frustration with Brussels, excludes Central Europe while giving a prominent place to business interests linked to the United States.

 

On 24 August, Mario Draghi, who was both the former president of the European Central Bank and a former prime minister of Italy, founded the Rhine Group in conjunction with Patrick Collison, the Irish technology entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of Stripe. This initiative, which is based in Geneva, gathers together prominent individuals from the fields of business, finance, technology, academia, and politics with the aim of turning Draghi’s 2024 competitiveness report into an action plan. Draghi and Collison share the role of co-chairs, while Luis Garicano, a Spanish economist and former member of the European Parliament, is the executive director.

The European economy is going through changes with the centre of gravity moving eastward; Poland’s industrial expansion, its defence investments, the development of its infrastructure, and its increasing role in Europe’s security structure make it all the more difficult to define the future of Europe without taking Central Europe into account 

The group came to life as a result of increasing frustration at the fact that Europe’s political system has been unable to deal with the continent’s economic stagnation and is intended to function as an independent means of getting action underway on the wide-ranging economic reforms that Draghi famously set out in his report.

The ambition is considerable. The group argues that Europe’s growth model is fading, that China has become a more formidable competitor, and that Europe risks becoming increasingly dependent on external powers. Its stated objective is to mobilise Europe’s talent, capital, and institutions to restore growth, innovation, and strategic competitiveness. At its core, the group aims to combat European existential decline with independent actions and concrete industrial solutions to combat the European innovation gap.

But there is already a problem with the map of the new Europe being imagined.

Poland is not there, and neither is Central Europe.

The Polish government has questioned the make-up of the group, holding Draghi responsible for “professional bias” since it discovered that there was no Polish or Central European member among the group’s members. This criticism goes beyond the issue of national representation; it raises a much bigger question – namely, who is entitled to determine Europe’s economic future?

The situation is especially unpleasant since Poland is no longer a marginal economic player; it became the EU’s sixth-largest economy in 2025, its GDP reaching €922.9 billion and thus surpassing that of Belgium and Sweden. The European Commission considers Poland to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the Union, noting that GDP increased by 3.6% in 2025 and is expected to grow by an additional 3.5% in 2026.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has just declared that Poland is being reclassified from an emerging to a developed market on the grounds of its economic resilience, and the Polish finance minister described this as an acknowledgement of the country’s position as the fastest-growing large economy in the EU.

When one looks at the makeup of the Rhine Group, the criticism grows more intense. The group comprises well-known European entrepreneurs, financiers, and policymakers, as well as important individuals from the transatlantic technology and financial sectors, such as Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Shopify founder Tobi Lütke. Among its other members are Xavier Niel, Vittorio Colao, Niklas Zennström, and Sebastian Siemiatkowski.

The fact that the Rhine Group represents American interests has not been proven, but it does pose a valid geopolitical question as to whether Europe’s competitiveness strategy is mainly being determined by the elite of Western Europe, including the UK, and the transatlantic technology-and-finance establishment, while the economic experience of Europe’s eastern part is being given no representation.

That is important since the European economy is going through changes with the centre of gravity moving eastward; Poland’s industrial expansion, its defence investments, the development of its infrastructure, and its increasing role in Europe’s security structure make it all the more difficult to define the future of Europe without taking Central Europe into account.

Draghi aims to create a more competitive Europe out of frustration with Brussels. Ursula von der Leyen needs to come up with some explanations.

Yet if the project leaves out some of Europe’s most dynamic economies, the paradox is clear: can Europe become stronger by letting its old division between the West and the East reappear at a time when it needs greater strategic unity?

https://journal-neo.su/2026/09/02/is-europes-competitiveness-man-causing-division-in-europe/

 

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