• Opinion piece by Alasdair Murray
    The Parliament Magazine, 22 March 2004

    The fact that the EU is not going to meet all its targets should not lead commentators to condemn the whole Lisbon programme, writes Alasdair Murray. At the Lisbon summit in the spring of 2000, EU leaders signed up to an ambitious economic reform programme that is designed to close the economic gap with the United States.

  • Opinion piece by Katinka Barysch
    The Parliament Magazine, 23 February 2004

    Will the strong euro strangle Europe's economic recovery asks Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform. Every year since 2000, economists have predicted a recovery in the eurozone. Every year, they have been disappointed. Will 2004 be any different?

  • Policy brief by Katinka Barysch, 03 October 2003

    The stability and growth pact – the EU’s fiscal rule book – is in tatters. The eurozone’s largest countries, Germany and France, are in breach of the pact, having exceeded the 3 per cent of GDP limit for budget deficits in 2002 and 2003. Theyare likely to do so again in 2004, possibly alongside Portugal and Italy.

  • Briefing note by Katinka Barysch, 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.

  • Policy brief by Katinka Barysch, 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 smoothly.

  • Policy brief by Alasdair Murray, 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 accession country economies.

  • Policy brief by Edward Bannerman, 01 March 2002

    The EU's ten-year plan to transform itself into "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010" is running out of steam. The forthcoming summit in Barcelona on March 15 and 16 needs to reenergise Europe's faltering commitment to the 'Lisbon agenda' of economic reform.

  • Policy brief by Edward Bannerman, 18 February 2002

    The goal of joining the European Union is now tantalizingly close for many central and Eastern countries. The bigger question is what kind of EU are they joining? For much of the past decade, policy-makers and business leaders in the candidate countries have assumed accession is a sure-fire path to economic prosperity.