Single market, competition & trade
Old Europe? Demographic change and pension reform
05 September 2003
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was onto something when he classified the current EU countries as 'old Europe'. Germany, France and Italy together will have more than 70 million people over 60 in 2040. The fact that Europeans are leading longer, healthier lives is to be welcomed. The problem is...
Der Lissabon-Anzeiger: EU Wirtschaftsreformen vor der Osterweiterung
05 September 2003
Als sich im März 2000 die EU-Staatschefs zum Gipfel in Lissabon versammelten, schien Europas Wirtschaft am Anfang eines neuen goldenen Zeitalters zu stehen. Die Wachstumsraten waren die höchsten seit nahezu einem Jahrzehnt.
Corporate social responsibility in the EU
11 July 2003
Europe wants faster growth. But it also wants social fairness and a healthy environment. This is why companies in the EU are under growing pressure to broaden their focus from pure profits to policies of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Britain and the euro: How to reap the benefits
06 June 2003
The British government predicts that joining the euro would boost domestic investment, employment and growth – provided the economic conditions are right. It has promised to implement measures to ensure that Britain will benefit from the euro.
The Lisbon scorecard III: The status of economic reform in the enlarging EU
07 March 2003
Three years into the EU's Lisbon economic reform agenda, the EU remains far from meeting its goal of becoming the 'most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010'.
Does enlargement matter for the EU economy?
07 March 2003
The economies of the new member-states are too small to have much impact on the current EU. The EU as a whole has gained from enlargement and will continue to do so. But labour intensive industries and border regions will have to cope with increased competition. Germany, Austria and other...
The euro and prices
03 January 2003
By most measures, the euro’s first year been a success. Doomsayers had predicted that the currency changeover would cause mayhem on European highstreets, long queues in front of cash machines and a wave of crime and forgery. In the event, the participating countries adapted to the new currency quickly and...
The EU's budget: Time to go back to basics
02 December 2002
The EU's summit in November descended into a nasty row between EU leaders about the Union's finances. The dilemma member-states face is how to finance enlargement the accession of ten, poorer countries without taking funds away from current EU members or pushing spending above the existing budget ceiling of 1.27 per cent of EU GDP.
A credible competition process
02 December 2002
The European Commission's handling of competition policy is facing a crisis of credibility. In the last six months, the Commission which had never previously lost a merger case has suffered three reversals in the European Court of Justice.
Issue 27 - 2002
29 November 2002
- The EU's budget: Time to go back to basics , Friedrich Heinemann
- A credible competition process , Alasdair Murray
- Why Europe does not need a new president , Peter Sutherland
The future of European agriculture
01 November 2002
The need to reform European farm policies has never been clearer. Although the Brussels European Council in October put a ceiling on farm spending, the Commission's 'mid-term review' of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will continue, and there is a real chance to change the policy's priorities over the next few years.
A half-finished job: The EU’s financial services action plan
01 November 2002
At the Lisbon summit in March 2000, EU heads of government signed up to an ambitious programme designed to achieve a viable single market in financial services by 2005. The financial services action plan (FSAP) is an attempt to reduce the legal obstacles which still prevent businesses – whether retail...
How to reform the European Central Bank
11 October 2002
Europe's macro-economic policy framework is in trouble. Eurozone inflation continues to overshoot the ECB's 'reference value' of 2 per cent. Yet businesses and policy-makers are pleading with the ECB for lower interest rates.
European economic reform: Tackling the delivery deficit
04 October 2002
The EU has set itself a series of ambitious economic reform goals but has so far failed to deliver on its promises. Alasdair Murray argues in this report that the Convention on the future of Europe and the forthcoming inter governmental conference provide an opportunity for the EU to think afresh about how it can overcome the institutional obstacles to economic reform.
New designs for Europe
04 October 2002
Everybody agrees that the EU's institutions are in bad need of reform. In the Convention on the Future of Europe, and elsewhere, a real debate has begun on how Europe should be governed.
New rules for capital markets
01 August 2002
The fallout from the Enron and WorldCom corporate scandals in the United States will resonate through global securities markets for years to come.
Reforming the commission
01 August 2002
The fallout from the Enron and WorldCom corporate scandals in the United States will resonate through global securities markets for years to come.
Issue 25 - 2002
26 July 2002
- Don't create Eastern Eurosceptics, Heather Grabbe
- New rules for capital markets, Alasdair Murray
- Reforming the commission , Alasdair Murray
Issue 24 - 2002
31 May 2002
- A 'competence catalogue' is code for protectionism, Ulrike Guérot
- Europe's future is in Ireland's hands , Daniel Keohane
- Playing the European game , Antonio Missiroli
Closing the delivery deficit: The future of economic governance in Europe
03 May 2002
The EU has set itself a series of highly ambitious economic goals to fulfil in the next decade. Eurozone countries are committed to ensuring the longterm health of the single currency, which will mean further economic integration. The Union will need to incorporate successfully at least ten dynamic but diverse...