Single market, competition & trade
Europe must build a strategic alliance with China
09 June 2008
Financial Times
The shift of power from west to east, as the US-dominated international order becomes multipolar, is evident. But the nature of the emerging system is far from clear. Will it be competitive, based on the assertion of national power, or co-operative, framed by international rules?
Robert Kagan, in his new book...
Robert Kagan, in his new book...
Why free markets have little to do with inequality
02 June 2008
Financial Times
Many Europeans believe liberal economic reforms are incompatible with social justice. The US and the UK, they point out, have more liberal markets for products and labour than in continental Europe - but also higher levels of poverty and income inequality.
Get with it, Europe
09 March 2007
The International Herald Tribune
It is seven years since the European Union launched its Lisbon agenda of economic reforms aimed at transforming the competitiveness of the European economy by 2010. Despite the pessimism, there has been much to cheer.
Welcome to the neighbourhood
15 January 2007
Russia Profile
The enlargement of the EU is slowing down. Bulgaria and Romania have just joined, bringing the membership to 27, but in many EU countries there is little enthusiasm for extending the Union's boundaries further.
How to ensure the eurozone does not unravel
04 October 2006
Financial Times
The euro has to be a success if Europe is to flourish. Unfortunately, diverging trends in competitiveness within the eurozone threaten its stability.
Sluggish EU 'Lisbon Agenda' bodes ill for modernisation
01 June 2006
European Affairs
Europe has gotten off to a bad start in 2006 with a fresh battering of the 'Lisbon agenda.' Protectionism is on the rise across the European Union.
The UK should see enlargement as an opportunity to revive the Lisbon process
01 June 2005
Progress online
At the Lisbon summit in 2000, EU leaders signed up to an ambitious economic reform programme: the Lisbon agenda, designed to close the economic gap with the US.
Financial headache
01 April 2005
E!Sharp
Significant progress has been made in liberalising financial services. But Alasdair Murray argues that the EU risks losing sight of the potential economic gains to be made by going further.
EU enlargement: How to reap the benefits
04 June 2004
Economic Trends
The overall economic impact of EU enlargement is likely to remain small. The newcomers are tiny compared with the existing EU countries and most economic integration has already taken place.
Arrival delayed
22 March 2004
The Parliament Magazine
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...
From strength to strength
23 February 2004
The Parliament Magazine
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?