In a country with an unemployment rate of 25.5 percent, this trend has to be of concern to policy makers. The second immediate constraint on the economy has been electricity supply. Electricity production has been flat for almost six years.
In such a union, competitiveness must be examined at national levels, with a view to take into account in particular the very high level of interdependence between economies created by the single currency. Therefore, competitiveness is not only about raising our economic living standards: it is also about strengthening the cohesion of the economic union.