BEPA monthly brief

Euro-pessimism is not of recent vintage; it has alternated with periods of high confidence in the European project during the past decades. Jean- Jacques Servan Schreiber’s “Le Défi Américain” in the late 1960s, Michel Albert’s “Capitalism against Capitalism” in the early 1990s, Hans Werner Sinn’s “Ist Deutschland noch zu retten” and Nicolas Baverez’s “La France qui tombe” a few years ago, epitomize our fears that Europe is a loser in world competition. Even though some of those fears proved overblown, they often served as a stimulus for further EU action.

The president of the EC, Jose Manuel Barroso, has put under public scrutiny the draft of Europe 2020 strategy. Its main objectives focus on increasing employment and reducing poverty, improving the educational standards and bolstering the support to research and development, dealing more effectively with climate change and modifying the energy consumption and production patterns in Europe; the bottom line would be achieving “smart growth” and higher competitive strength in the global economy.

Available only in Romanian, Ziarul Financiar, 16.11.2009

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Criza internationala a curmat inalta crestere economica a Romaniei din ultimii ani; criza a reliefat slabiciuni majore ale economiei autohtone, care erau oglindite de deficite bugetare structurale mari (de peste 5% din PIB in perioada 2006-2008) si dezechilibre externe de doua cifre (amintesc ca dezechilibrul structural este ocultat de o crestere economica peste potential, ce aduce incasari bugetare aditionale numai temporare).