A group of 55 high-level European business leaders, academics and media personalities launched the ‘Rhine Group’ on 24 August to develop solutions to Europe’s competitiveness challenges, building on the 2024 report of former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
Draghi, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison — whose company provides online payments — and the group’s executive director, Spanish economist Luis Garicano, will lead the group, which will hold its inaugural session from 20–23 September.
French and German members make up the largest national groups, with twelve members each, followed by seven Italians, six Britons and five Spaniards.
Its members include former French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Dutch scientist and former minister Robbert Dijkgraaf, and French Nobel laureate economist Philippe Aghion.
The editors of the Financial Times, the Economist, and the publisher of Le Monde are also members.
The group’s founders argue that Europe is now facing an even more difficult situation than when Draghi’s report was released.
“In every emerging technology that will shape the coming decades, Europe is weak,” the founders wrote.
