The Hour of the Central Planners - Europe attempts to address the failure of central planning with more central planning.

American Thinker ^ | 12 Feb, 2026 | Thomas Kolbe

[MtnClimber]

Immediately ahead of tomorrow’s EU summit, French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for the introduction of Eurobonds. Collective debt financing would be the final salvo in the march of Brussels’ central planners.

As the 27 EU heads of government convene today with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the stakes are high from a fiscal perspective. A decisive item on the agenda at Belgium’s Alden Biesen Castle is the so-called Draghi Plan.

The question hovering above it all is as simple as it is explosive: How can the obvious productivity and growth weakness of the Eurozone economy be overcome? For years, economic dynamism has lagged behind other major economies, with structural barriers stifling investment and innovation. Over-indebtedness and bureaucratic weight press down like lead on EU economies.

For former ECB president and former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, the answer is clear. He calls for a massive, debt-financed stimulus program to give Europe’s economy a new jolt. The scale and financing of this initiative mark a profound turning point in European financial policy.

It is the hour of the central planners and Euro-bureaucrats. In Alden Biesen, the European Union’s course will be determined -- and how it responds to its economic weakness.

Two years ago, Draghi laid out his strategy to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness. In short, Eurozone countries would raise €800 billion annually in joint debt and invest these funds strategically in renewable energy, digitalization, and coordinated European industrial policy. This, he argues, would close the massive competitiveness gap with the U.S. and China. Simply put -- EU intellectual processes usually operate on modest ambition.

The Draghi Plan represents a profound paradigm shift. It implies the completion of the Capital Markets Union and the creation of an EU-wide debt pool -- precisely the instrument that former chancellor Helmut

[blackdog]

I "see" so much when I watch that movie. There was another that year that I found an entertaining comedy, yet insightful. That movie being "Time Bandits".

Terri Gilliam directed both. Brazil however, is a work of prophecy now fulfilled.

[gibsonguy]

Brazil - if you know, you know.