EU Economy
The decision of the German government mentioned earlier to restrict the entry for workers from Bulgaria and Romania, new EU members from tomorrow on, is no surprise. It has to deal with a highly EU enlargement averse population. Polls published these days show that only 39% are positive towards the enlargement. People fear that low cost competition is going to threaten their jobs. But with this type of protection the problem will only be postponed.
Sometimes it is difficult to convince people although the benefits of the EU and it's enlargements should be obvious. As stated in the article: New members give lift to EU economy, the EU is still behind the US and 5 East Asian economies and likely to fail it's own goal to become the most competitive region in the world by 2010. The new members in eastern Europe provide possibilities for further growth and development of the whole EU economy. As also stated earlier in my blogs those new countries are fostering competition which is a good thing as “good old Europe” is forced to renew itself. By boosting welfare and economies in new member's countries all other economies will participate and prosper over time. Every country will find it's niche and specializations and trade with the others. The less regulated and free this whole multi country economy is the higher the benefits for all (going back to the economic theory of competitive advantage).
As an example how successful new member countries can be: the Czech Republic already overtook Portugal in gross national product per person since joining the EU beginning of 2004. Why not let the whole EU economy get some traction through these relatively young, highly dynamic economies? Instead of taking measures of protection we need to confront ourselves with the phenomenon of competition which would bring us to the next level. The earlier the better. For 2007 I wish politicians, unions and all people in western EU countries to discover that challenge and take it up!
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Posted at
12:29PM Dec 31, 2006
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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