Brussels to set out why EU is trailing US

[charrison]

linkage

Europe's apparently doomed attempt to overtake the US as the world's leading economy by 2010 will today be laid bare in a strongly worded critique by the European Commission.


The Commission's spring report, the focal point of the March European Union economic summit, sets out in stark terms the reasons for the widening economic gap between Europe and the US.

It cites Europe's low investment, low productivity, weak public finances and low employment rates as among the many reasons for its sluggish performance.

The draft report, to be published by the Commission today, warns that without substantial improvements "the Union cannot catch up on the United States, as our per capita GDP is 72 per cent of our American partner's".

It was four years ago in Lisbon that EU leaders, enthralled by the technology boom, proclaimed their intention to overhaul the US as the world's "most competitive, knowledge-based economy" by 2010.

The Commission's report suggests that such a goal now looks hopelessly ambitious, and will make sobering reading for EU leaders as they prepare for their annual update on progress in meeting the targets set at Lisbon

 

[CanOWorms]

Personally, I think one of the biggest factors for the US lead is its welcoming of immigrants (legal kinds) to continue our technological superiority in the world. So many educated immigrants, some of the brightest in the world, avoid going to Europe since they're not as welcomed.

 

[mfs378]

Policies over in Europe are too restrictive to small buisinesses.

When you think about it, the majority of progress has come from small buisinesses. Some of them stay small and keep producing, some of them go under, and some of them get big. This is what drives growth in the economy.

Microsoft could not have happened in Europe.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Who cares, they're morally superior.

 

[Mardeth]

Originally posted by: mfs378

Microsoft could not have happened in Europe.

Not true. If a company has a product like Windows those days, it would have gotten big in Europe too.

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Who cares, they're morally superior.

True.

 

[mfs378]

Not true. If a company has a product like Windows those days, it would have gotten big in Europe too.

My source is someone who moved from Germany to America and has set up several small businesses.