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A closed-door meeting, on Wednesday in the early afternoon in Milan, between the former prime minister and former ECB president Mario Draghi and the European round table (ERT) for Industry, a Brussels-based forum that brings together CEOs and presidents of around 60 of the major European companies in the industrial and technological sector “who share the values of freedom, tolerance, equality and openness”, as stated on the site.
The meeting will be held in the Milan headquarters of the Bank of Italy and is part of the preparatory work of the Competitiveness Report, the preparation of which Draghi was entrusted by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen . Maximum confidentiality on the list of participants.
The ERT – which can be joined by invitation on a personal, not corporate basis – includes Rodolfo De Benedetti from Cir for Italy, Claudio Descalzi of Eni, Gianfelice Rocca of Techint, but it is not known whether they will actually be present at the meeting.
Ft: Draghi possible candidate for EU Council
Meanwhile, the announcement of Charles Michel’s candidacy for the European elections and his early resignation from the position of president of the EU Council has kicked off negotiations on top positions in Brussels, where the former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi is indicated by some as a major contender.
The 76-year-old former president of the European Central Bank who is credited with saving the single currency is being considered as a possible option to succeed the former Belgian prime minister, according to European officials and diplomats cited by the Financial Times. It is likely that other possible candidates will also emerge for the role now played by Michel, and it is difficult to predict the sequence of negotiations and subsequent agreements on EU top positions, also linked to the outcome of the June elections, underline the sources cited from the newspaper.