EU economy's in a serious slump.. dare I say it? A recession looms.

[Mr.Vicchio]

BY BRIAN M. CARNEY Sunday, May 15, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT BRUSSELS--Is the European "social model" doomed? It's a question that comes up with increasing frequency as unemployment across Western Europe has climbed into the double digits and economic growth has ground to a virtual halt across much of the Continent. Updated GDP figures for the euro zone came out last week, and growth in the first quarter was a disappointing 0.5%. Last month both the European Commission and the European Central Bank cut their annual growth forecasts for the euro zone to 1.6% from 2%, and that ugly word recession is in the air. The European Union's much-ballyhooed "Lisbon Agenda"--which was supposed to revive growth in Europe--was really not an agenda for reform at all. It was, instead, simply a statement of nice things the EU would like to see happen to the European economy to help it compete with the U.S.--such as raising employment levels, increasing R&D spending, and so on. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, almost none of those things have happened, and halfway through the 10-year timetable of "Lisbon," the European economy is in at least as bad a shape as it was when Lisbon was announced in 2000. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editor...l?id=110006692

This should be interesting to watch. The left in America always points to Europe as the model by which we can save our "horrible" economy, and that if we just adopted the EU model of socialism, then we can save oursevles from the horror that our economy is in.

I wonder what the voters of America will say to the Left when it comes time to vote?

[G. Adams]

The EU doesn't have a model of socialism, we have 25 different economies. If you look at the UK, which is also a social democratic country, you'll see that under a social democratic labour party we've had the longest sustained economic growth ever. This is while we've introduced minimum wage and reversed the massive public spending cuts made by the Conservative Party.

The problem with the numbers for the EU is that France and Germany are not dealing well with the new world, they must become more flexible. They have large unemployment, Germany is riding 10%, and I don't think France is far behind. They need to get off their arse's before the sitautation gets any worse.

One thing the EU certainly shouldn't have done that has recently been passed (but I doubt will be enforced) is the 48 hour week rule.

[Samildanach]

Agreed France and Germany are not performing well and need to get their act together before they go and railroad the EU, meanwhile the eastern European countries are performing like never before,their economies are expanding rapidly. Here is another link about why Europe is not performing as badly as you would think.

http://washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20...3812-7865r.htm

[RickSp]

Mr.V you have been predicting European downfall for quite a while, unless I am mistaken. Seems to be one of your recurring themes.

All economies go through cycles of expansion and recession. Despite your burblings about European socialism, the EU is progressively lowering trade barriers. Their economies are mixed, not truely socialist.