Brussels, 01/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - “Fiscal discipline but also the badly needed return to sustainable growth”. European economists have sent an open letter to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, calling for policies to stimulate sustainable growth in the eurozone and the EU as a whole. It is signed by Daniel Gros, director of CEPS; former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato; Richard Baldwin; Stefano Micossi and PierCarlo Padoan.
In their open letter, the economists explain: “The European Union is going through extraordinarily difficult times, and faces immediate challenges that require swift action. We feel that the measures that have been adopted so far are not sufficient to redress the structural economic problems of Europe. Even the wide-ranging measures announced in the context of the Irish rescue package over the last weekend risk remaining insufficient if there is no return to growth in the countries struggling with public finances.”
The economists attach a series of proposals to the letter that they feel will help EU leaders combine budget discipline with the badly needed return to sustainable growth, hoping that Van Rompuy will submit them to the European Council on 16 December 2010. The same suggestions have been sent to the EU27's permanent representatives to the EU and will be publicly unveiled next week at a hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels organised by the EP vice-president, Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy). The economists explain in the open letter that they would be delighted to meet Herman Van Rompuy to explain their ideas in more detail. (Gp/transl.fl)