I have heard it said that what Europe faces as a whole now is a crisis of competitiveness, vis-à-vis China for instance. What Germany succeeded in doing much of the West hasn’t, and China provides a huge wake-up call for the West. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  You have a formidable challenge which is coming from all emerging markets.
The crisis reveals a lot of weaknesses in the advanced economies and we all have to accept that and reflect on that.