"Nearly two years after the release of the Draghi Report, Europe’s challenge is less about inertia than about keeping up with an increasingly fast-moving world. The next twelve months will be a crucial test, not only for the implementation of Draghi’s recommendations, but also for Europe to prove its capacity for swift and collective action." - François Chimits, Head of the Europe Program at Institut Montaigne.

Significant progress, in line with the report’s timeline

Despite the widespread perception that Europe has remained inactive, the results show that implementation is well underway, with a 30% implementation rate for the report, broadly in line with the timeline set by Mario Draghi.

These advances primarily constitute measures that are the most straightforward to implement, the majority of which fall within the European Commission’s remit. However, progress varies significantly across policy areas: defense stands at 49%, while others, such as semiconductors and governance, remain below 20%.

A crucial phase for Europe's competitiveness

Although progress is underway, the more challenging measures, such as common debt, a genuine European preference, or limiting Member States’ veto power, remain a real test for European policymakers.

This marks a decisive phase for Europe’s competitiveness agenda: more than half of Draghi’s recommendations will be subject to negotiation over the next twelve months.

The ball is now in the Member States’ court, and the coming months will determine whether necessary reforms can be accelerated and strengthened.

A strategic challenge for Europe

Intensifying economic competition, trade tensions, and China’s growing technological and industrial strength are placing the European economy under growing strain.

Beyond the implementation of the Draghi Report—which alone cannot address all the challenges Europe faces—this study highlights a broader issue: Europe’s ability to collectively strengthen its competitiveness in a world that is changing faster than European institutions can adapt through reform.

Methodology

Our analysis evaluates the legal implementation of the actionable recommended policy actions put forward in the Draghi report. For this study, a total of 567 recommendations were extracted from the 20 policy areas found in part B of the Draghi Report (177 “general” recommendations and 390 “detailed” recommendations).

Each detailed recommendation was then compared with EU and national measures taken between September 9, 2024, and May 1, 2026, and registered in the database as “in the pipeline”, “partially implemented”, “fully implemented”, or “no action.”

The implementation rate for each detailed recommendation is then derived from the distance between the initial recommendation and the identified actions. The implementation rate for each “general” recommendation is then calculated using the average of the “detailed” recommendations found beneath it, weighted by a complexity index developed by Institut Montaigne.

Taken together, these measures provide implementation rates for the entire report.

Click here to view the full methodology.