Single market, competition & trade
Issue 43 - 2005
29 July 2005
- Liberal versus social Europe, Katinka Barysch
- A bad European dream, Daniel Keohane
- Europe’s social dilemma, Alasdair Murray
Unshackling services is the key to Europe's economic future
03 June 2005
In the last edition of the CER Bulletin, John Monks, secretary-general of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), wrote an interesting and engaging - but in my view incorrect - article on the Commission's draft directive for opening up EU services markets.
Issue 42 - 2005
27 May 2005
- Europe beyond the referendums, Charles Grant
- Unshackling services is the key to Europe's economic future, Digby Jones
- When the dust settles, Alasdair Murray
The EU's common fisheries policy: The case for reform, not abolition
01 April 2005
During the British general election campaign, political parties have found the EU's common fisheries policy (CFP) a temptingly soft target.
Clumsy politics on services
01 April 2005
It may be too early to read the last rites for the EU's proposed services directive. But even the strongest supporters of the directive, which seeks to liberalise services ranging from estate agents to employment firms, must now see that the prospects for its introduction are bleak.
Issue 41 - 2005
25 March 2005
- What new transatlantic institutions?, Charles Grant, Mark Leonard
- Clumsy politics on services, John Monks
- One year after enlargement, Katinka Barysch
The Lisbon scorecard V: Can Europe compete?
01 March 2005
The EU is half-way through its ten year programme of economic reform, the 'Lisbon agenda'. The EU is unlikely to achieve its goal of becoming the world's most competitive and dynamic economy by 2010.
A fair referee? The European Commission and EU competition policy
01 October 2004
The EU's policies for enforcing competition and restricting state subsidies are among its biggest success stories. But the way the European Commission conducts these policies is coming under attack.
Over but far from finished - The EU's financial services action plan
01 September 2004
The EU has now all but completed the legislative phase of its financial services action plan (FSAP). The action plan is an attempt to reduce the legal obstacles which prevent businesses – whether banks, insurance companies or stock exchanges – from selling their services seamlessly across the EU.
Is tax competition bad?
02 August 2004
EU enlargement was meant to be a cause for celebration. But one seemingly esoteric issue is threatening to spoil the fun: taxation. West Europeans fear that low tax rates in the new member-states will lure companies eastward, taking jobs and investment with them.
Issue 37 - 2004
30 July 2004
- The recipe for a successful Commission, Alasdair Murray
- Is tax competition bad?, Katinka Barysch
- The peculiarities of the British, Charles Grant
Manufacturing first: A new way forward for global trade
07 May 2004
Global trade negotiations inside the WTO remain stalled. Recently, negotiators have talked up the prospects for progress in the 'Doha development round' – but no one is expecting an imminent breakthrough.
Raising the quality of Europe's higher education
01 April 2004
European universities are in urgent need of reform. They have a crucial role to play in helping the EU to achieve its goal of becoming the 'most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world'.
Issue 35 - 2004
26 March 2004
- Raising the quality of Europe's higher education, Richard Lambert
- A European public prosecutor would be a dangerous distraction, Mónica Roma
- Serbia and the EU, Charles Grant
The Lisbon scorecard IV: The status of economic reform in the enlarging EU
05 March 2004
With cynicism, even derision – this is how many Europeans look at the EU's key economic target, namely to become the "most competitive and dynamic, knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010.
The EU budget: Common future or stuck in the past?
06 February 2004
The EU's common budget is small and rather rigid. Most of its outlays are determined years in advance, and most of them go on just two policies, namely support for farmers and poorer regions. Yet the EU budget invariably attracts acrimonious debate and close scrutiny out of all proportion to its economic significance.
Policing public sector aid
02 February 2004
Europe's powerful public sector trade unions are campaigning to protect public services from the disciplines of EU competition and state aid laws.
Issue 34 - 2004
30 January 2004
- Jobs for the boys, Steven Everts
- Poland: the EU's new awkward partner, Heather Grabbe
- Policing public sector aid, Alasdair Murray
Is Europe working?
01 January 2004
With more than 14 million people out of work, unemployment is the EU's greatest economic problem. However, while EU policy-makers ponder Germany's 4.3 million unemployed, Britain's low labour productivity and Italy's greying workforce, they have missed one of Europe's key labour market challenges: eastward enlargement.
If the EU's labour market statistics...
If the EU's labour market statistics...
Germany – the sick man of Europe?
05 December 2003
Germany was once the economic motor of Europe. Its large domestic market offered business opportunities for its smaller neighbours. Its high-quality machines powered manufacturing all across Europe. Its sound budget policies set the standard for the other EU countries. In the 1980s, however, the German motor began to sputter. It...