The European Union will grind to a halt in a mire of ever-worsening unpopularity if it fails to tackle inequality, tighten external borders and co-ordinate defence policies,according to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.

Anti-globalisation forces are closing borders and reversing progress made in recent years, he said, with policies which “have at times been reminiscent of the interwar period: isolationism, protectionism, nationalism”.

The message is a stark warning from the ECB’s chief, who has taken a new tack to push politicians to act. He has spent several years telling governments that they should use the breathing room granted by low interest rates to reform their economies to boost employment, productivity and growth.

But little of that has happened, forcing Mr Draghi to resort to stronger language to describe economic problems as a threat to the political project’s viability.

“The more recent years of the European project have been characterised by growing dissatisfaction,” Mr Draghi said, noting the Brexit vote.

“For some EU countries, these years have entailed the most serious economic crisis since the war, with unemployment, especially among the young, reaching unprecedented levels and welfare states constrained by low growth and stretched public finances.”

Combined with the fall of the Soviet Union, terrorism, climate change, new technologies and mass migration, “these factors have, in a short period of time, interacted with the economic consequences of globalisation and intensified feelings of insecurity, especially in a world that was inattentive to how the extraordinary benefits of that globalisation were being distributed”.

If the EU wants to serve its citizens and continue to bring its members closer together, he said, then politicians should listen to voters and address their concerns.

“The integration process needs to be guided towards outcomes that are more efficient and more directly aimed at the people, their needs and their fears,” he said in a speech as he received the De Gasperi award – a prize named for one of the EU’s founders and given to leaders who promote a more united Europe.

David Fuller's view

Well said Mario Draghi, although too many arrogant leaders may not listen.