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Europe’s Moment of Truth
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“Nothing beats the truth.” These were the passionate words of Enda Kenny, prime minister of Ireland, when asked last week about the spring European Council on 14-15 March. He was talking about a moment of reckoning for the continent&rsquo...
Europe Needs a Real Growth Agenda
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As Europe embarks on a quest for a new “Growth Compact,” it is clear that the old ways of facilitating a painless recovery via Keynesian stimulus spending is not an option. After all, if government spending did lead to higher growth, Euro...
Single Market Entrepreneurs
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In collaboration with our friends at Google, the Lisbon Council is launching a new Centre of Excellence, entitled Single Market Entrepreneurs Centre. In a nutshell, it consists of a dedicated research programme and high-level, policy-driven community...
A European in Silicon Valley
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I love that feeling when you get to do and experience something that you have only ever heard about. The myth of “Silicon Valley”, its innovative prowess, its ingenuity, its ability to remake the world with its ideas, its entrepreneurship, its sa...
Competitiveness Pact: Lisbon Agenda II?
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Franco-German plans for a Competitiveness pact, which were put forward at the last EU summit have been met with great skepticism but done right, they could help address key areas of structural weaknesses. After all, European leaders have wasted almos...
Competitiveness Pact: Lessons from the Lisbon Agenda
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Plans for a Pact for Competitiveness, which will guide the economic governance of the Eurozone, are long-overdue and present at last a promising resolution to the debt crisis. To date, European leaders have wasted almost a year in getting to the root...
Informal Competitiveness Council: Innovation (Not) @ Work?
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I had a rather unique experience a few days ago. I was invited to attend and speak at the Informal Competitiveness Council convened by Belgian Economy Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne. For those of you who don’t know Minister Van Quickenborne, he...
Good Governance for the Euro Area: Proposals for Economic Stability
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Today, the Lisbon Council publishes a sharp and timely new e-brief, written by our excellent Economic Advisor Alessandro Leipold, a former acting director of the European Department at the IMF. It’s a good moment to weigh in, with the European Coun...
Not the kind of advice we need from the other side of the Atlantic
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In this Wall Street Journal editorial, I weigh into the “austerity” versus “stimulus” debate and criticise US efforts to compel Europeans to pump more (borrowed) money into the economy. To me, this is a false debate because so much of what to...
Greek default and the risk of contagion: Has the time finally come for Fiscal Sustainability?
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What can I say? There isn’t a person I know who didn’t see the impending Greek default coming. It’s a country that has had no strategy for generating growth, unfunded pension liabilities en masse, a bloated, inefficient state sector, poor educa...
It’s a proud day to be German: Reflections on the Spring European Council
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It has escaped me, frankly, why Angela Merkel has been portrayed as a bad European as of late. Perhaps because she didn’t immediately cave in to calls for a Greek bail-out? Or is it because she didn’t want to follow Europe’s lagging economies b...
Wikinomics in Europe: Towards an i-society
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Last week, the Lisbon Council hosted one of my favourite events ever, The 2010 Innovation Summit. It was what an event on innovation should be: open to new ideas, collaborative and, well, simply different. Intellectually, the discussions were under...
EU 2020 Proposal: The Watershed we had Hoped for?
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Addendum: This blog was written based on a copy of Europe 2020 that was leaked to the press on or around 24 February. Since the launch on 3 March, we have subsequently learned that two of the original nine flagship programmes are no longer included i...
Huge Cost of Low Performance in Education
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Check out this video interview with Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment. The Lisbon Council hosted Andreas for the launch of his new study on the huge cost of low performance in education. The s...
Sticks are not EU2020′s keys to success
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Here is an editorial of mine published in this week’s European Voice, a first reaction to plans of imposing sanctions on economic non-performance. In a nutshell, my argument is that countries that don’t grow and that have high unemploymen...
EU 2020: Innovating Indicators
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With the reflection on EU 2020 in full swing, this e-brief weighs into the debate with an analysis about the political economy of indicators, as well as concrete recommendations on targets for the EU’s new economic blueprint. “Innovating Indicato...
EU 2020 Consultation Marks Brussels’ Return to Policy and Substance
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Today, the European Commission is launching a consultation on the EU 2020 strategy, the successor to the Lisbon Agenda. With Lisbon’s deadline in the year 2010 quickly approaching, there is now a unique opportunity to review and improve this vital...
EU Consumer Policy: Economic Citizenship and User-Focused Markets
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This was the name of a policy seminar that the Lisbon Council hosted today. We were blessed to have with us Commissioner Kuneva, who never fails to impress, and Mario Monti, who is such a monumental figure in his own right. I think the power and p...
A New Dawn: 10 Recommendations for the New European Commission
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With the Lisbon Treaty finally in the end game after the Irish Yes vote last week, and José Manuel Barroso embarking on a second term as European Commission president, it will be more important than ever before to position the EU’s executive arm a...
Pie in the sky? Cloud computing enters Brussels debate
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‘If it’s not open, it’s not the Internet’ Vint Cerf Fascinating event this morning on cloud computing, hosted by Openforum europe. I mostly confirmed my attendance because I know too little about this fascinating phenomenon that is so profo...
