Single market, competition & trade
Look who's sclerotic
28 September 2009
International Herald Tribune
A popular Continental misconception about Britain is that it is some kind of ultra-free economy where there is limited social welfare and where the market has been introduced into every aspect of life.
Germany will not drive a European recovery
01 September 2009
Financial Times
The European Union’s biggest member goes to the polls in less than four weeks. Yet while Germany’s economic prospects rest precariously on a recovery in foreign demand, the campaign has been free of any real debate about the country’s extraordinary export dependence. This is worrying.
A sustainable EU economic recovery requires...
A sustainable EU economic recovery requires...
Economic liberalism in retreat
16 July 2009
The New York Times
Is the brief flowering of economic liberalism in Europe over? It is too soon to read the last rites, but the prognosis is not good.
The financial crisis, the subsequent discrediting of the Anglo-Saxon economies and the passing of the most economically liberal European Commission there has ever been have put liberal economic thinking on the defensive.
The financial crisis, the subsequent discrediting of the Anglo-Saxon economies and the passing of the most economically liberal European Commission there has ever been have put liberal economic thinking on the defensive.
The eurosceptic illusion
05 July 2009
The Guardian
Britain's Eurosceptics need to come clean. The media and political class have a right to be sceptical about the EU, even hostile to it. But they also have an obligation to be honest about the economic implications of a retreat from full membership of the union.
Their failure to do so...
Their failure to do so...
The wages of recovery
15 April 2009
The Wall Street Journal
Everywhere in Europe the talk is of the need to cut costs. Companies have no choice but to respond to declining profits by reducing expenses.
Ten years on, the eurozone must beware of Greeks bearing debts
29 March 2009
The Times
Europe's leaders have plenty to fret about. The Czech Government, which holds the EU presidency, has collapsed. The European Commission is battling against the protectionist instincts of some states.
Les crises appellent une figure forte pour l'Europe
06 March 2009
La Croix
La période actuelle où est mise à l’épreuve la construction européenne exige, pour Charles Grant, non pas davantage de transferts de compétences, mais une personnalité de premier plan face au reste du monde.
How to avoid a eurozone debt crisis
24 February 2009
The Wall Street Journal
Twelve months ago it seemed inconceivable that any European Union member could face a sovereign debt crisis. It would have been the stuff of fantasy to argue that Ireland or Austria could be among those at risk.
Crisis shows imbalances are not sustainable indefinitely
27 November 2008
Financial Times
Sir, Paul Betts (“All for one, but none for all to revive Europe’s fortunes”, November 24) argues that Germany should wait for other countries to boost their economies (and hence demand for German exports) rather than taking steps to boost German domestic demand.
Brussels's Bad Medicine
02 October 2008
The Wall Street Journal
Europe's prosperity depends on its developing and sustaining high-tech businesses. Twenty years ago, Europe was the center of the pharmaceutical industry, which invested roughly 30% more in R&D here than in the U.S.
Should we care that world trade talks have collapsed?
31 July 2008
The Daily Telegraph
After nine days of fierce haggling, trade ministers from the 153 countries that are in the World Trade Organisation gave up this week. It is not clear whether the Doha round of multilateral trade talks - seven years in the making - is now dead. Should we care?
Europe must build a strategic alliance with China
09 June 2008
Financial Times
The shift of power from west to east, as the US-dominated international order becomes multipolar, is evident. But the nature of the emerging system is far from clear. Will it be competitive, based on the assertion of national power, or co-operative, framed by international rules?
Robert Kagan, in his new book...
Robert Kagan, in his new book...
Why free markets have little to do with inequality
02 June 2008
Financial Times
Many Europeans believe liberal economic reforms are incompatible with social justice. The US and the UK, they point out, have more liberal markets for products and labour than in continental Europe - but also higher levels of poverty and income inequality.
Get with it, Europe
09 March 2007
The International Herald Tribune
It is seven years since the European Union launched its Lisbon agenda of economic reforms aimed at transforming the competitiveness of the European economy by 2010. Despite the pessimism, there has been much to cheer.
Welcome to the neighbourhood
15 January 2007
Russia Profile
The enlargement of the EU is slowing down. Bulgaria and Romania have just joined, bringing the membership to 27, but in many EU countries there is little enthusiasm for extending the Union's boundaries further.
How to ensure the eurozone does not unravel
04 October 2006
Financial Times
The euro has to be a success if Europe is to flourish. Unfortunately, diverging trends in competitiveness within the eurozone threaten its stability.
Sluggish EU 'Lisbon Agenda' bodes ill for modernisation
01 June 2006
European Affairs
Europe has gotten off to a bad start in 2006 with a fresh battering of the 'Lisbon agenda.' Protectionism is on the rise across the European Union.
The UK should see enlargement as an opportunity to revive the Lisbon process
01 June 2005
Progress online
At the Lisbon summit in 2000, EU leaders signed up to an ambitious economic reform programme: the Lisbon agenda, designed to close the economic gap with the US.
Financial headache
01 April 2005
E!Sharp
Significant progress has been made in liberalising financial services. But Alasdair Murray argues that the EU risks losing sight of the potential economic gains to be made by going further.
EU enlargement: How to reap the benefits
04 June 2004
Economic Trends
The overall economic impact of EU enlargement is likely to remain small. The newcomers are tiny compared with the existing EU countries and most economic integration has already taken place.