Disponible en anglais uniquement

Ce Policy
Paper est une contribution de John Springford (Centre for European
Reform) et Richard Youngs (FRIDE) au
projet Think Global – Act European (TGAE). Thinking Strategically
about the EU’s external action dirigé par Notre Europe – Institut
Jacques Delors (rapport disponible en mars 2013, dir. Elvire Fabry,
Chercheur Senior, Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors).

Europe’s growth
strategy is based on a larger trade surplus with the rest of the world, to make
up for slow domestic growth, as consumers are weighed down by debt. Therefore, Member
States have pursued commercial diplomacy, with foreign ministries organising
trade fairs, brokering sales of energy, transport, and arms equipment, and in
some cases making bilateral trade deals, undercutting EU efforts.
Governments are doing everything they can to drum up export growth, especially
in emerging economies. This strategy is unlikely to make Europe richer in
either the short or the long term. The continent’s short-term problem is a lack
of domestic demand: overall exports to the rest of the world would have to grow
at an unlikely pace to offset it. The continent’s long term problem is a slow
rate of productivity growth. More competition between Europe’s firms is more
likely to raise productivity, and with it living standards, than a
government-sponsored export drive.