Two years after the Draghi report, Europe's telecom reforms still lag
On the second anniversary of Mario Draghi's competitiveness report, only a small share of its recommendations have been fully implemented, with digital and telecom policy lagging even further behind. Industry voices warn that without decisive reform, Europe risks falling behind in the global tech race.
Tomorrow marks two years since former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presented his report on restoring European competitiveness. According to tracking site draghiwatch.eu, only 15.7 percent of his recommendations have been fully implemented so far. In the digital and technology field specifically, the figure is even lower, at just 6.4 percent.
Draghi placed technology at the heart of his reform agenda, highlighting telecoms as a critical sector for achieving tech sovereignty and long-term growth, since 5G, fiber and future 6G networks underpin modern economies. Yet less than half of his telecom-related recommendations have been picked up in ongoing reforms, and none has been fully implemented. Worse, the measures that have advanced so far, such as technology bans in 5G networks or forced phase-outs of copper infrastructure, mainly add costs for the industry rather than encouraging investment.
Four fronts of the tech race
Connectivity is now closely tied to four fast-moving fields: artificial intelligence, cloud computing, defense technology and satellite connectivity. Telecom operators move data between AI data centers and users, support the emerging sovereign cloud market, cooperate with defense companies on issues like drone threat detection, and are involved in satellite connectivity, an area recently boosted by a positive European Commission decision on satellite spectrum.
What reforms are needed
Industry representatives point to four key policy actions: consolidating Europe's fragmented telecom markets so operators can invest at scale; adopting a new telecom rulebook, the Digital Networks Act, which would include measures such as unlimited spectrum licenses; revising cybersecurity rules, since the current Cybersecurity Act could cost the industry and consumers an estimated €30-40 billion, according to GSMA Intelligence; and introducing a Cloud and AI Development Act to strengthen Europe's sovereignty and competitiveness in these areas.
By way of comparison, it is noted that in the time it has taken for the Draghi report's recommendations to go largely unimplemented, AI agents could theoretically carry out more than 120 hacking incidents of the scale that hit the company Hugging Face in July.
