Single market, competition & trade
The future of the single market
02 March 2007
The EU puts out a lot of reports, studies, evaluations and announcements. So far this month, the Commission has released around 80 major documents. Many of them are too specialised, too long or simply too dull to attract wider interest.
The Lisbon scorecard VII: Will globalistion leave Europe stranded?
01 February 2007
Globalisation and the rapid integration of China and India into the international economy present huge opportunities for the European Union.
The wrong benchmark for Eastern Europe
25 January 2007
In November last year, Anders Aslund, a long-time observer of transition economies, rang the alarm bells over Eastern Europe. In an FT article he talked about “Central Europe’s political malaise” and warned that budget profligacy and reform fatigue would keep the new members from catching up with the West.
Beware a weak dollar!
08 December 2006
When Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, announced yesterday’s increase in eurozone interest rates, he did not even mention the threat a weaker dollar could pose to the outlook for the eurozone economy.
Transatlantic trade: walk before you run
01 December 2006
Ever since the EU forged its plans for a single market, in the late 1980s, there has periodically been interest in the idea of establishing a transatlantic single market – removing not only tariffs, but also non-tariff barriers to trade and investment.
Issue 51 - 2007
24 November 2006
- If Turkey and the EU break up..., Katinka Barysch
- Time to get tough on carbon emissions, Simon Tilford
- Transatlantic trade: walk before you run, Aurore Wanlin
Towards an environmental union
02 October 2006
When I was involved in the creation of CER in 1994 I hoped it would become an important source of ideas and debate about the future of Europe.
Will the eurozone crack?
01 September 2006
Europeans often refer to Economic and Monetary Union and enlargement as the EU's two greatest successes. However, the basis for a sustainable currency union is not in place.
Europe’s new division of labour
01 June 2006
Two years after the accession of ten new members, the EU is showing clear signs of enlargement fatigue. While most politicians and economists insist that eastward enlargement has been good for the EU, voters are increasingly sceptical.
The future of European universities: Renaissance or decay?
01 June 2006
Knowledge is an increasingly critical factor in shaping economic life. But in Europe, the institutions that should be the main sources of knowledge are failing to meet the challenge.
Issue 48 - 2006
26 May 2006
- Europe’s new division of labour, Katinka Barysch
- Unblocking EU-NATO co-operation, Daniel Keohane
- Can we live with a nuclear Iran?, Mark Leonard
What future for free trade in services?
03 April 2006
The controversy that has engulfed the Commission’s draft services directive is hardly surprising: the establishment of a single EU market in services was always going to generate more opposition than the liberalisation of trade in goods.
Issue 47 - 2006
24 March 2006
- A new European approach to China, Mark Leonard
- What future for free trade in services?, Simon Tilford
- How to build a better EU foreign policy, Charles Grant, Mark Leonard
Ditchley conference note - The future of the European economy
21 March 2006
In November 2005, the CER took more than 40 of Europe's top economists, policy-makers and commentators to the Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire to discuss 'The future of the European economy'. Participants included Graham Bishop, Jean-Philippe Cotis, Daniel Gros, Will Hutton, DeAnne Julius, Anatole Kaletsky, John Kay, Mart Laar, Richard Layard,...
The Lisbon scorecard VI: Will Europe's economy rise again?
01 March 2006
The European Union and its 'Lisbon agenda' of economic reform, have received a battering over the past year. The pace of reform has remained slow in the big eurozone countries.
New budget, old dilemmas
22 February 2006
After months of fierce haggling, the UK government managed to broker a deal on the EU's new budget at the Union's summit in December 2005.
The EU's new financial services agenda
03 February 2006
After five years of intense law-making, the European Commission promises fewer financial services laws for the remainder of the decade. But there is still no fully integrated single European market in financial services.
EU 2010: A programme for reform
03 February 2006
The European Union is suffering from a profound malaise. There have been difficult times in the past – such as the 'empty chair' left by General de Gaulle in the mid-1960s, the rows over the British budget contribution in the early 1980s, and the struggles to ratify the Maastricht treaty...
East versus West? The European economic and social model after enlargement
06 January 2006
The EU's enlargement to the East has been an economic success. Trade between the old and the new members is thriving. Foreign investment by West European companies has helped to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in Central and Eastern Europe, and it has generated multi-billion euro profits for the investing companies.
Why Europe deserves a better farm policy
01 December 2005
The prospects for radical CAP reform look bleak. At the time of writing (December 2005) neither the arguments over the EU budget nor pressure from major farm exporters at the world trade negotiations look likely to force the EU to reform.