If a future Europe is to compete it needs structural reforms

Donetsk Euroclub is happy to present a series of essays on the topic "Future of Europe" by former members of Euroclubs. Essays were submitted for a competition to participate in a Youth in Action exchange in Norway. Essays are presented as received.

I am a young student, I live in Ukraine and I think Europe must change and raise. A number of leaders have made the valid, but often forgotten point, that the Europe we have now has brought a formerly war-torn continent a period of unrivaled peace and prosperity. The union has also brought Europe power and influence on the global stage as the world’s largest political union and single market with 500 million consumers.

Successive speakers today that the way out of the economic mire is a return to competitiveness, particulalrly amongst the European periphery. Italy, Greece Spain and Portugal’s competitiveness lags significantly behind the region’s strongest country, Germany. If a future Europe is to compete it needs structural reforms, particularly in the labour market. The means making it easier to hire and fire employees and to cut the social costs often placed on companies by governments.

Liberalisation of trade by cutting regulatory red tape, particularly for smaller and micro businesses, which are the real drivers of job creation and new growth. A further condition for growth is the need to invest in innovation to create the type of products that consumer and business will demand in the future and to take more risk in investing, particularly in start ups to drive growth by completing a raft of bilateral agreements with trading partnership including the US, Russian, and of course the free trade agreement with Ukraine.

So the clear message from today was the need for the european economies to become more competitive, to cut unnecessary red tape and to encourage innovation and investment.

Author: Oleksandr Goncharov

Oleksandr is a former participant of Euroclub "EuroMix" at Kharkiv school № 91. He currently studies telecoms at Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics. He is interested in modern technologies and photography - he had several personal exhibitions, participated in the Museum Night, received scholarship from the Gifted Youth Foundation.