drive to speed up three key transitions will determine our future : towards cleaner energy, greater economic security and a more digital and productive economy. first, we urgently need to step up investment in clean energy to counterbalance lower investment in fossil fuels and falling russian supply. this is not only about increasing domestic energy production, but also about developing new technologies that will help us solve the intermittency and storage challenges of renewables. and in the short term, reforming europe ’ s energy markets will be critical so as to avoid recurring volatility in energy prices while we diversify away from russian gas. second, europe ’ s “ strategic autonomy ” agenda will be pivotal in making growth more resilient to the changing nature of globalisation. in a world fragmenting into blocs, it will allow us to retain access to critical technologies and resources, both through reshoring strategic industries [ 6 ] and securing strategic alliances. and that will in turn underpin the energy transition, which is highly resource - intensive. electric vehicles, for example, use around six times more minerals than conventional cars. third, to cope with shrinking global labour supply, as well as our own ageing societies, we will have to start producing more with less – that is, addressing europe ’ s chronically low productivity growth by boosting our rate of innovation. this will require the rapid digitalisation of the economy in terms of skills and technologies. consider that only around half of eu firms innovated or adopted new technologies in 2021, compared with close to two - thirds in the united states. collectively, these transitions will require significant investment. the european commission has estimated that climate - related investment needs alone will amount to almost half a trillion euro on average per year until 2030. [ 9 ] and more than €100 billion per year will be needed to close the digital gap and upskill the labour force to manage the digital transition. the €750 billion next generation eu fund, with its focus on green and digital spending, is a good tool for ensuring that investment flows where it is needed over the next few years. but this will ultimately need to be matched by higher investment elsewhere – not only by the private sector, but also by national governments. according to one estimate, the public sector will need to fund between a quarter and a fifth of climate - related investment. this means that, when the time comes for national governments to consolidate their fiscal policies, it will make a difference whether they do so by reducing transfers

dimitar radev : addressing underlying issues of cross - border investment in the eu publication by mr dimitar radev, governor of the bulgarian national bank, in " views the eurofi magazine ". the magazine were disseminated during the eurofi high level seminar 2017 before ecofin, malta, 5 - 7 april 2017. * * * we are witnessing a downward shift in cross - border investment in the eu, while the eu current account moved to positive territory in recent years. the savings - investment mismatches, therefore, are at the heart of the conundrum we face in developing the cross - border investment in the eu. several initiatives to address this issue have been launched, including the investment plan for europe, and the european long - term investment fund. a large - scale new initiative is the establishment of the capital markets union intended to further enhance the mobilization of capital and its channeling to companies and infrastructure projects offering new opportunities for savers and investors across the eu. a few other initiatives are under consideration, including the creation of a european savings investment fund. however, the results of all initiatives have been mixed so far, and cross - border investment is stagnating. before moving forward we need to better understand the underlying factors behind recent developments. the current initiatives look technically sound, but the lack of sufficient progress in their implementation reveals a number of remaining underlying issues. these include : ( i ) the unfinished agenda with regard to banking and financial integration ; ( ii ) slow progress in real convergence ; and ( iii ) limited availability of adequate infrastructure and innovation projects. priority actions should, therefore, focus on addressing the underlying issues, and efforts at further expanding the already established toolkit come next. this would require bold steps at both the eu and national levels to regain confidence in the future of eu integration. at the eu level, there are institutional issues to be addressed concerning the future of the integration process. the five scenarios recently proposed by commission president jeanclaude juncker shed light on the possible patterns of integration between the eu members. however, there remains a potential conflict between the prospects of “ multiple - speed ” developments and advancing real convergence between the euro area and the rest of the eu. the eu needs to move promptly on this issue, in order to address uncertainties. the national authorities, at their end, should promote financial stability and fiscal solvency, and address structural weaknesses and bottlenecks. the experience of bulgaria may be indicative of what can