BRUSSELS (AP) — A long-awaited report on how to rescue Europe's economy from weak growth and red tape is in. The question is, how many of its recommendations will actually be enacted by the drawn-out decision-making process of the European Union?
The report stands out from other recipes for improvement because the project was headed by Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank who also served as Italy's prime minister in 2021-22.
Draghi is regarded as having saved the euro currency union with his 2012 promise that the ECB would do “whatever it takes” to save the shared currency from the debt and financial crisis then engulfing it.
Now the EU and its 440 million people are facing a persistent and growing growth gap with the US, the report says. Last year the EU economy grew 0.4% compared with 2.5% in the U.S.
Europe is also struggling with three areas where it has become dependent on outsiders: Russia for energy, China for growth and trade, and the U.S. for defense. All three are now disrupted or in question. Draghi says the EU and its 27 member governments have to work better together to develop their own capacities.
The report, requested by the European Union's executive commission, says Europe needs to massively ramp up infrastructure and green energy investments while slashing burdensome regulation in order to return to consistent, strong growth.
Whether any of it will actually take effect over the upcoming 5-year term of the re-elected commission President Ursula von der Leyen depends on backing from the EU's member governments and its parliament.
Here are some key takeaways from the report's nearly 400 pages:
To pay for the transition to clean energy and boost defense capacity, the EU would need to increase public investments by a massive 4.4%-4.7% of annual economic output, or 750 billion-800 billion ($828 billion-$883 billion), levels not seen since the 1960s and 1970s and dwarfing the post-World War II Marshall Plan. To find the money, the EU needs to integrate its financial markets so that companies can raise more capital through stock and bond sales rather than bank loans as they tend to do now. That has been one of the EU's long-standing projects, but it has moved slowly amid resistance to some aspects, such as shared deposit insurance.
Draghi also said that issuing shared debt would be one way to both fund investment in specific projects such as defense or cross-border energy grids. That's what the EU did to fund its pandemic recovery program. But the idea faces political resistance, and von der Leyen, the commission president, said at a news conference introducing the report that Europe's national governments would have to “look at the political will to have these common European projects.”
Europe needs to “close the innovation gap with the United States,” Draghi said, pointing out that regulatory barriers and lack of startup financing meant that fast growing European companies - so-called “unicorns” valued at $1 billion or more - often moved to the U.S. in search of venture capital backing.
That, and too much regulation, leaves Europe stuck with an economy based on older, “middle technologies” such as autos instead of digital tech. The report pointed out that no EU company worth more than $100 billion has been set up from scratch in the last fifty years, while all six U.S. companies worth more than $1 trillion - such as Apple and artificial intelligence chip maker Nvidia - were started in that period. Only four of the world's top 50 tech companies are European.
“We have many talented researchers and entrepreneurs filing patents,” the report says. “But innovation is blocked at the next stage... innovative companies that want to scale up in Europe are hindered at every stage by inconsistent and restrictive regulations.”
While Europe's regulations on artificial intelligence and data privacy are “commendable, their complexity and risk of overlaps and inconsistence” can undermine the EU's own tech companies as use of AI becomes more widespread.
The loss of cheap Russian natural gas over the invasion of Ukraine means Europe - which unlike the U.S. must import the bulk of its energy - must hustle to build out renewables. Energy prices have fallen but companies still face electricity prices 2-3 times higher than in the U.S. and gas prices are 4-5 times higher. Fossil fuels will “continue to play a central role in energy pricing for the remainder of this decade,” the report says.
European Union countries are buying too much of their defense equipment abroad, almost two thirds of it in the United States, and failing to invest enough in joint military projects, the report says. NATO allies — almost all of whose members are part of the EU — have been ramping up defense spending since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Their aim is for each country to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on national defense. NATO forecasts that 23 of its 32 members will meet or exceed the 2% target by the end of this year, up from just three countries in 2014.
The report highlighted the shortcomings of countries investing in their national defense industry rather than joint procurement. When Ukraine appealed for artillery, for example, EU countries supplied 10 types of howitzers. Some use different 155 mm shells, causing logistical headaches. In contrast, the A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport plane was developed jointly, and this allowed participating countries to pool resources and share operating and maintenance costs.
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McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany
FILE - Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, on July 20, 2022. A long-awaited report on how to rescue Europe’s economy from weak growth and red tape is in. Lead author Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank and former Italian prime minister (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech Friday focused squarely on abortion rights to voters in Georgia, where news reports have documented women’s deaths in the face of the state’s six-week ban.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation’s presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. The efforts follow a July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally and after a second apparent attempt last weekend at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
With early voting beginning Friday in three states, voters are split on whether Harris or Trump would better handle the economy, a new AP-NORC poll finds.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
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Her family lived in Wisconsin when she was growing up and her parents worked at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
She told the crowd of thousands she has Wisconsin “cred” and on a recent visit went by the house where her family lived.
“Every time I land the governor says ‘welcome home,’” Harris says.
MADISON, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally on Friday in the Democratic stronghold of Madison continues a long tradition of Democratic candidates for president drawing huge crowds in the capital city of the battleground state.
Harris attracted a capacity crowd of about 10,000 people at a stadium where Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders drew a similar size in July 2015, which was the largest Sanders rally up to that point.
The largest political rally in Madison the past 20 years occurred In October 2004 when Democratic nominee John Kerry and rocker Bruce Springsteen attracted about 80,000 people on the streets surrounding the Capitol. Four years later in 2008, candidate Barack Obama filled a stadium on the University of Wisconsin campus with about 19,000 people in attendance.
Obama was back with Springsteen in 2012 for a rally outside the Capitol that drew an estimated 18,000 people.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in 2016, famously did not campaign in Wisconsin after her primary win. She narrowly lost the state to Republican Donald Trump that year and many Democrats blamed that on her not campaigning in the state.
There were no large rallies during the 2020 campaign because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Harris stop on Friday was her fourth to Wisconsin as the nominee and first to Madison. Trump has been to Wisconsin for five rallies this year and during the Republican National Convention, which was held in Milwaukee.
Harris will speak at an evening rally in the heavily Democratic state capital of Madison, where some voters said they’re eager to hear more about where she stands on issues.
“I’d like to hear more details,” said Rabindra Upreti, 51, of Madison. He said he especially wanted to hear her talk more about her plans for the economy, especially how she will bring down housing costs.
“I don’t know how she’s going to cover that,” Upreti said. “I want her to break down more details.”
Brittany Thompson, 34, of Madison, also wants more information about her plans for affordable housing.
“Her story is compelling, but I would like to hear more,” Thompson said.
While Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin, is a Democratic stronghold, the race statewide in Wisconsin is expected to be tight.
During her speech Friday in battleground Georgia, Harris shared the story of Amber Thurman, a mother who decided to have an abortion after she became pregnant again. She developed sepsis and died while waiting more than 20 hours at the hospital for a routine medical procedure after taking abortion pills.
The vice president said Thurman “should be alive today.”
Harris blasted Donald Trump as a threat to women's freedoms and their very lives, warning Georgia voters that he would choke off access to abortion if he returns to the White House.
The Democratic vice president’s visit came days after ProPublica reported that two women in the state died after they did not get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills to end their pregnancies.
Such deaths, Harris said, were not only preventable but predictable because of laws that have been implemented since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Although Georgia’s six-week ban allows abortions in early pregnancy to save a mother’s life, critics say the law has created dangerous confusion for doctors about when they’re allowed to provide care.
A Beverly Hills fundraiser featuring Barack Obama is expected to bring in over $4 million for Kamala Harris' election effort.
The Friday event is intended to be smaller than other blowout fundraisers for the Democratic ticket over the past year in the beating heart of America’s entertainment industry, which have featured entertainers such as Lenny Kravitz. The minimum donation for a ticket is $50,000, according to a Los Angeles-based consultant.
It will be held at the home of James Costos, the former president’s ambassador to Spain, and his partner Michael Smith. It’s not the only fundraiser for Harris to be held in the Los Angeles area on Friday. Hillary Clinton was slated to appear at an event hosted by Sybil and Matthew Orr, said the consultant, who insisted on anonymity to provide private details for the events.
Nearly eight years removed from office, the $4 million figure raised by Obama suggests he has still has lasting star power in Hollywood.
Harris’ campaign is airing a new ad in battleground North Carolina, aiming to highlight Trump’s ties to the embattled GOP gubernatorial nominee and top Trump surrogate.
The ad alternates between Trump’s praise for Robinson and the lieutenant governor’s comments in support of a statewide abortion ban without exceptions. It comes as Harris is set to give a speech Friday focused squarely on abortion rights in Georgia, where news reports have documented women’s deaths in the face of the state’s six-week ban.
Her campaign says Harris’ ad is its first to link Trump to a down-ballot candidate. The rollout follows a CNN report Thursday about Robinson’s alleged posts on a pornography website’s message board. Robinson has denied writing the posts, which include racial and sexual comments. He said wouldn’t be forced out of the race by “salacious tabloid lies.”
Trump campaigns in Wilmington on Saturday, but a person on the Trump campaign, and a second person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, told AP that Robinson will not be with him.
The Harris campaign says the ad is part of its $370 million in digital and television advertising reservations between Labor Day and Election Day.
In addition, the Democratic National Committee is running billboards in nine places across North Carolina, including Robinson’s hometown of Greensboro, showing a photo of him standing alongside Trump. There’s also text of positive things the Republican presidential nominee and former president has said about Robinson.
President Joe Biden invited a special guest to his meeting with his Cabinet on Friday: his wife, Jill Biden. It was her first time attending.
Biden called on her to update the group on a new White House effort to change the approach to and boost funding for research into women’s health issues.
The first lady said “incredible progress” had been made since she and the president launched the initiative in November after she learned about “huge gaps in our understanding of women’s health.”
She called out several departments and agencies, including Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health, for committing hundreds of millions of dollars to spur research and innovation.
The first lady said she’ll be making a new announcement on Monday in New York.
She said the steps taken so far are “building momentum for this research” but added, “We have to keep moving forward.”
In-person voting for this year’s presidential election has officially begun, kicking off the six-week sprint to Election Day.
Voters lined up Friday to cast their ballots in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia, the states with the first early in-person voting opportunities. About a dozen more states will follow by mid-October.
Some of the voters who cast ballots Friday suggested that they didn’t want to wait, hoping to avoid the potential for trouble or chaos at the polls after a summer of political turmoil.
Other early voters might opt for early in-person balloting instead of mail-in absentee ballots to ensure their votes get counted, given the ongoing struggles of the U.S. Postal Service.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has often sought to sow doubt about mail voting and encouraged voters to cast ballots in person on Election Day. But this year, Trump and the Republican National Committee, which he now controls, have begun to embrace early and mail voting as a way to lock in GOP votes before Election Day, just as Democrats have done for years.
At a polling site in Minneapolis, Jason Miller arrived well before the polls opened at 8 a.m. and was first in line. He was among roughly 75 people who cast ballots in the first hour at the city’s early voting center.
“Why not try to be first? That’s kind of fun, right?” said the 37-year-old house painter.
The Teamsters Rail Conference, which represents 70,000 members, endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Friday.
The announcement comes as a flurry of Teamsters locals back the Democratic ticket even though the national union declined to make an endorsement in the presidential race.
“The lives and livelihoods of railroaders are more dependent than most workers on decisions made by the federal government,” said the Teamsters Rail Conference, which cited Democrats’ support for worker-friendly regulations like paid sick leave.
The rail workers’ endorsement differs from a previous statement from the Teamsters’ national leadership, which cited Harris’ stance on rail strikes as a reason not to endorse her.
Vice President Kamala Harris said she’s “very proud” to have earned Taylor Swift’s endorsement but poked at the pop superstar over the Super Bowl in a new video interview released Friday.
The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 to win February’s game.
Harris and Swift supported opposing teams. Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, is a 49ers fan, while Swift backs the Chiefs. Her boyfriend is Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
In WIRED’s Autocomplete Interview, which Harris sat for earlier this week, she noted the split with Swift over the Super Bowl but said, “Who’s mad at anyone for being loyal to their team?”
On Swift’s endorsement, Harris said, “I am very proud to have the support of Taylor Swift” and described the singer-songwriter as “an incredible artist.”
“I really respect the courage that she has had in her career to stand up for what she believes is right,” the vice president said.
Swift announced her endorsement shortly after the conclusion of Harris’ debate on Sept. 10 with Republican Donald Trump.
Swift has a dedicated following among young women, a key demographic in the November election, and her latest tour has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales
Washington, D.C., has a new tourist stop that surely will be made over once the next president settles into office.
“The Peoples’s House: A Washington Experience” is set to open on Monday, covering three floors in an office building a block from the White House.
The education center boasts a full-scale replica of the Oval Office decorated just as President Joe Biden’s currently is — right down to his desk, the armchairs in front of the fireplace and the weathered family Bible resting on a side table.
But it won’t look that way for long.
The plan is to update the replica Oval next year after either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump is elected in November and assumes office, and the décor is set.
The replica will always mirror the Oval Office of the sitting president, so it will be updated regularly, said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association.
The nonprofit organization raised money to open the education center.
Admission is free; timed tickets are required.
Vice President Kamala Harris has grown more open about her gun ownership in recent weeks, but on Thursday she for the first time said what she’d do with the handgun she owns.
Speaking during a campaign event hosted by the talk show host Oprah Winfrey, Harris was addressing her efforts to cut down on violence and pass a new ban on assault-style weapons, when she referenced owning a handgun — surprising Winfrey.
“If somebody’s breaking into my house they’re gettin shot,” Harris added. She continued: “I probably shouldn’t have said that. My staff will deal with that later.”
A live stream with Vice President Kamala Harris and talk show host Oprah Winfrey billed as a “Unite for America” rally kicked off Thursday night with more than 230,000 viewers on YouTube alone even before Harris joined, as the Democrat looks to digital-first events to reach voters.
The event was hosted by Winfrey from suburban Michigan, one of this election’s key battlegrounds, and leaned on celebrities like Brian Cranston, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, and Meryl Streep, but also the stories of ordinary voters to promote Harris’s message.
“I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this Black woman president,” said comedian Chris Rock.
Donald Trump appeared before Jewish leaders in Washington D.C. on Thursday to talk about antisemitism.
But as the former president is wont to do, he took a large detour at the top of his speech, name-checking his Republican allies in the crowd, discussing the Green New Deal “scam” and pontificating about his polling numbers at length.
Trump was roughly an hour late to his speech, which was slated to begin around 6 p.m.
“Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a single finger to protect you, or protect your children, or even protect you with words... I’m here to tell you today that this ugly kind of antisemitic hate for all of us — bigotry and hate — will be turned back ... starting at noon on Jan. 23rd," he said.
"With your vote, I will be your protector and defender and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Minneapolis residents cast their votes at the City of Minneapolis early voting center, Friday, September 20, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Minneapolis voter Jason Miller casts his ballot at the City of Minneapolis early voting center, Friday, September 20, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minn. Miller was the first resident in line to cast his vote. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks to supporters at a Democratic campaign office in Macon, Ga., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris joins Oprah Winfrey at Oprah's Unite for America Live Streaming event Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 in Farmington Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris listens as she joins Oprah Winfrey at Oprah's Unite for America Live Streaming event Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 in Farmington Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Israeli American Council National Summit, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd after speaking at the Israeli American Council National Summit, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
