Europe Needs to Move Fast and Break Bureaucracies
Slow growth is harming not just the EU economy but the continent’s global influence.
Move faster.
Photographer: Siska Gremmelprez/AFP
America’s rapid economic growth, which reached 4.9% in the third quarter, reflects an uncomfortable truth: The gap between the United States and the European Union is growing. So the EU’s effort to regain its “competitive edge” is welcome, though it must be said that its process — it has commissioned a report, due sometime next year — is typically bureaucratic.
The difference between the two continents’ economies is stark. In 2013, in dollar value, the EU economy was 91% of the size of the US economy. Now that figure is about 65%. In per capita terms, US GDP now is more than twice that of the EU. Since many EU populations are shrinking, with lower fertility rates than in the US, this disparity in economic influence is likely to grow.