wb457.jpg Mark Weber

New Model Europe

It is becoming increasingly clear that, if Europe is to overcome its crisis, business as usual will not suffice. We need a Europe that is more concrete, less rhetorical, and better suited to the current global economy.

ROME – It is becoming increasingly clear that if Europe is to overcome its crisis, business as usual will not suffice. We need a Europe that is more concrete, less rhetorical, and better suited to the current global economy. We need to focus not only on the European Union’s specific policies, but also on how to change its “politics” – a change that must place economic growth at the top of the agenda.

Europe does not need a debate between austerity and growth; it needs to be pragmatic. A good example of this was the most recent European Council, which addressed two of Europe’s most pressing problems: malfunctioning labor markets, reflected in record-high youth unemployment, and malfunctioning credit markets, in which access to financing is difficult and lending rates vary considerably among different parts of the single market.

The outcome of the Council’s June meeting was encouraging, and we must continue on that path in the coming months to make progress on two equally important issues: how to foster innovation and the digital economy, and how to ensure Europe’s manufacturing competitiveness.

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