The European Union must reform its economy if it is to compete with the U.S. and China, U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said
Published:
26 June 2004 y., Saturday
EU leaders last week agreed a new constitution for the union, which on May 1 expanded from 15 to 25 member states with the addition of former communist countries including Poland and the Czech Republic. ``Enlargement this year has also forced its members to confront the need for reform,'' Straw said at a forum in London hosted by Bloomberg LP. ``Now that the EU's institutions are in good shape, Europe cannot rest on its laurels. The EU needs now to focus on economic reform, if it is to meet the challenge of global competition.''
The Eurozone area GDP grew 0.5 percent last year, compared with 3.1 percent for the U.S., 9.1 percent for China and 2.2 percent for the U.K. ``If Europe's economies are to compete, we need to cut back unnecessary and outdated EU regulation, and ensure that any new regulation makes us more, not less competitive,'' Straw said. ``Europe in its original conception was about self-sufficiency, in food, in energy and then in manufacturing. Now we live in a world of global competition. Today, it's about ensuring we can meet that competition.''
Šaltinis:
Bloomberg
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
President Dalia Grybauskaitė opened the Lithuania National Day at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė visited the pavilions of Lithuania and the host country China at EXPO 2010.
more »
On 19 October, Acting Director of Europe Department of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Neris Germanas met with Polish Ambassador to Lithuania Janusz Skolimowski.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė had a meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus in Minsk where they discussed regional cooperation between the two countries within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to be chaired by Lithuania next year, as well as possibilities for bilateral cooperation.
more »
On 14 October in Washington D.C. the delegation of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry led by Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius discussed ways to better coordinate the development cooperation and democracy promotion programmes that are being implemented by the two countries.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė and President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who has come to Lithuania on an official visit, discussed bilateral issues, Ukraine's progress in the area of European integration, and regional cooperation, including the upcoming Lithuanian Chairmanship of the OSCE.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended, on behalf of the people of Lithuania and herself, sincere condolences on the tragic death of Ukrainian citizens in a traffic collision which occurred in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė sent congratulations on behalf of herself and the people of Lithuania on the occasion of Spain's national holiday, the National Day of Spain.
more »
The State Defense Council headed by President Dalia Grybauskaitė approved Lithuania's positions on the key issues to be addressed by NATO's new strategic concept, which would be presented at the meeting of NATO foreign and defense ministers on October 14 in Brussels.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn, who is currently in Lithuania on a working visit.
more »