Europe faces the risk of being left behind relative to other major economic powers such as the United States or China, largely because of "self-inflicted" problems that slow the advance of productivity in the Old Continent. To reverse this situation, the region needs a "culture of winners" and to strengthen confidence in its own capabilities, according to the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva.
"We need a culture of winners in Europe," the Bulgarian economist stressed during a colloquium at the International Banking Conference 2026, organized by Santander, at which Ana Botín, executive chair of the Cantabrian bank, also spoke.
The head of the IMF has warned about the excessive prudence that, in her view, defines Europeans and which can cause major global transformations to pass them by, including the current AI revolution. For this reason, she has called for undertaking a "thorough cleanup" in the regulatory sphere and for recovering an attitude of "yes, we can, we are good, we are great", something that, in Georgieva's opinion, "in Europe is more difficult to achieve than even fiscal discipline".
In this vein, she has underscored that the main source of competitive advantage of the United States lies in the dynamism of its productivity, supported by deep capital markets, a willingness to take risks, innovation and the capacity to achieve economies of scale.
"None of this is forbidden for Europe," she defended, emphasizing that many of the continent's challenges "are self-inflicted" and, therefore, are in the hands of Europeans themselves to resolve, because if "Europe advances, others run, and we still run the risk of falling behind."
At the same time, Georgieva has insisted on the importance of younger generations participating more at the ballot box, recalling that Europe is an aging continent where the older population, more conservative and risk-averse, goes to vote in greater proportion than the young.
"So, if we can, we have to cut off the head of populism. Get up early on election day, go out to vote and then change," she urged young Europeans.
Gaining competitiveness in the European economy
For her part, Ana Botín has agreed with the IMF director in pointing out that Europe is today the continent that requires the most attention, where it is essential to assume the urgency of "taking bigger steps" to strengthen economic competitiveness.
"I am cautiously optimistic about Europe," the Spanish banker has indicated, for whom "the best thing that has happened to banking in Europe is the SSM (Single Supervisory Mechanism), which carried out excellent work that has made it possible to trust in bank capital," although she has warned that "what was good 12 years ago is not good today." In this regard, she has defended the need to have "a secondary mandate for competitiveness" so that, when applying the rules, in addition to the regulatory and prudential lens, another view is also incorporated.
"If it is always interpreted in the most conservative way and an integral view of how much capital is needed in the system is not adopted, in this bank, in the other, there will end up being an enormous surplus," Botín has pointed out, for whom this change of approach could be put into motion "tomorrow itself" and unlock billions in capital that Europe requires "for defense, for data, for social housing".
"That does not mean that we should get rid of everything we have done in the last 12 years," the Santander president has qualified, emphasizing that this problem is not limited to the financial sector, but affects the economy as a whole, where "permits" end up becoming an obstacle and a true tax on activity.
"Stability and growth are not incompatible. Growth is not synonymous with imprudent or excessive risk," she has emphasized, defending that Europe needs to "invest more and much faster" in order to fully deploy the potential of the Old Continent.