Continuing structural reform

In the business daily Világgazdaság France's minister for economic affairs Christine Lagard stresses the need for economic structural reforms in the EU to continue: "For a year now Europe has been contending with three challenges: the financial crisis which began in the US and which has had a negative impact on our economies; the rising oil price which has increased our companies' costs and reduced our citizens' purchasing power, and finally the growing strength of the euro that has undermined the competitiveness of our companies. These circumstances have led to a decline in global demand and the concomitant deceleration in Europe's economic growth. ... We must continue with the structural reforms we began. These reforms have created 14.3 million jobs in Europe in the past five years. We must tackle the problems at their root and restore confidence in the financial systems. ... The confidence that has dwindled cannot be restored without a stable, transparent and unified system in Europe and without stricter rules for the financial world."

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe