Brussels, 03/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - A study on competitiveness in Europe by the Lisbon Council think tank and Berenberg Bank notes the slow pace of economic reform in France.
Entitled “2013 Euro Plus Monitor”, the research comments: “France remains the only major European economy which is beset by serious health problems and has not yet done much about it. The modest labour market reform of early 2013 was an encouraging start. But French progress remains well below the eurozone average. (…) France still has one of the most bloated shares of public spending in GDP of the 20 countries in this survey and suffers from a pronounced lack of competitiveness”.
On the macroeconomic front, the study says that that the crisis in the eurozone could be over by mid-2014 thanks to budget consolidation, the return of growth and the adjustments being made in struggling countries that had been living beyond their means. In its autumn economic forecasts, the European Commission says that GDP will grow by 1.1% in the eurozone in 2013 and by 1.7% in 2015. Budget consolidation is decreasing in structural terms and is expected to reach 0.5% of GDP in 2013 and 0.25% in 2014. Unveiling the research, Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said the economy would get the breath of fresh air it needs to return to growth. He said it was important for member states to focus attention on the details of the reining in of public finance at the heart of their structural reforms, and they should also focus on investment. (MB/transl.fl)