Abstract
Economic stagnation is now endemic in Europe in the aftermath of the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Responses to the crisis have thus far focussed on financial issues. European leaders averted the collapse of banks and bankruptcy of member governments by organising emergency financial support. New frameworks for regulation of banks and other financial institutions were introduced in parallel with efforts in the USA and other high income countries. But measures to bolster financial stability have not been adequate to launch a general recovery of growth and investment in Europe. Unemployment remains high while government services and social benefits are being cut in most countries. Budget cuts have depressed spending without achieving long-term reforms in public finances. Nor have they been effective thus far in reducing government debt relative to GDP. Debt ratios can be expected to fall gradually but the adjustment will be a long painful process and countries in Europe will share the cost directly via depression of their trade and investment.
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Notes
- 1.
If only in the second edition in 2005 of his book “Irrational exuberance”.
- 2.
The differences between old and new members thus come out quite clearly in the analysis of wage dynamics in Chap. 4.
- 3.
One will have to wait until the Europe 2020 strategy to see a more encompassing approach of competitiveness (see Chap. 3), still falling short of what would be required to face fiscal evasion, oligopolistic captures of markets or abusive rents of intellectual property rights.
- 4.
Let us notice that this ECSC creation included the creation of a Court of Justice.
- 5.
Article 2 of the treaty of Rome.
- 6.
For the text of the ILO Philadelpia declaration of 1944 see http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-islamabad/documents/policy/wcms_142941.pdf
- 7.
To illustrate this dual motivation, let us recall that the United States Congress passed a law in 1946 called the Full Employment Act and in France the program of the resistance inspired the labour laws setting the framework of social security in the aftermath of World War II.
- 8.
One can find a good reassessment of this duality or compromise between ordo-liberalism and social Rhenan capitalism in an article by François Denord, Rachel Knaebel and Pierre Rimbert in Le Monde Diplomatique August 2015. See also on Rhenan capitalism Albert 1991.
- 9.
An Open Method of Cooperation, already mentioned in the 2000 version of the Lisbon strategy that had been little effective (see Chap. 3).
- 10.
Or 1.8 % of the GDP of the countries of the Eurozone.
- 11.
And some would add France to this list viewing its poor performances in terms of employment and trade balance. See Chap. 3.
- 12.
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Petit, P. (2016). Conclusion: Out of the Present European Crisis: Questions and Alternatives. In: Talani, L. (eds) Europe in Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57707-8_9
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