Further Reforms and Investment Needed to Safeguard Jobs and Recovery in Europe - Investing Guide at Deep Blue Group Publications LLC Tokyo
A failure to implement
fundamental reforms associated with encouraging competitiveness is putting job
creation and Europe’s long-term economic strategy at risk, finds The Europe
2020 Competitiveness Report: Building a More Competitive Europe,
released today by the World Economic Forum.
Published every two years, the
report aims to assess the progress of European economies in achieving the goals
set by the EU’s Europe 2020 strategy to become a smart, inclusive and
sustainable society. This second edition finds a Europe that has largely
successfully dealt with the macroeconomic turbulence of the past half-decade,
yet is enjoying mixed success in implementing reforms necessary to return the
region to the top of global competitiveness.
“Europe as a whole has made
significant strides towards macroeconomic stability. Now it is time for its
leaders to address the long-term competitiveness agenda by implementing the
right reforms and smart investments to drive productivity growth. There is no
room for complacency, even for those countries that are currently performing
well,” said Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz, Lead Economist and Director, World
Economic Forum.
In terms of Smart, The report
corroborates Europe’s lack of progress in building a more innovation-based,
knowledge-driven economy in comparison to other advanced economies. This
category, which measures countries in terms of their record in building
business-friendly enterprise environments, implementing a digital agenda,
encouraging investment in innovation and optimizing skills and training, also
represents the widest gap between Europe’s most and least competitive
economies.
While the EU fares well in
providing the foundations for sustainable growth, the picture is more mixed for
inclusive growth, says the report. Overall, EU countries continue to depict
relatively cohesive societies, although many of them are failing to provide
gainful employment opportunities for large shares of their populations.
Underlying the gap in
competitiveness between Europe and other advanced economies is a deep-rooted
competitiveness divide within the region that has proven stubbornly hard to
narrow. This is in spite of impressive achievements by many of the more
“innovation-poor countries” in adopting reforms necessary to achieve stable
macroeconomic environments.
According to the report, there
is no one-size-fits-all strategy for lifting competitiveness across all member
states as national and regional characteristics all play a part in shaping
Europe’s economic landscape. However, one common thread is the need for all
nations to build institutional capacity and adopt governance mechanisms that
will enable more effective implementation of competitiveness-raising reforms.
An important conclusion of the
report is that in the long term, there are no trade-offs between building a
competitive economy on the one hand and an inclusive and sustainable society on
the other. Competitive
economies tend to provide more and better opportunities for their
citizens, creating more inclusive societies, and fostering further
opportunities for innovation and building environmentally sustainable
societies.
“Europe can create more and
better jobs, support rising living standards and build economically sustainable
societies,” said Nicholas Davis, Director and Head of the Europe Team at the
World Forum and co-author of the report. “We hope this report will encourage
business, civil society and political leaders at the European and national
levels to collaborate to achieve these goals.”
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