A plethora of analyses of the causes of Europe’s less-than-satisfactory performance has been presented, and I am sure that in your discussions on the various features of European social models – the theme of this year’s annual session – you certainly touched upon many of the explanations put forward in this regard: inadequate labour utilisation; insufficient competition in product and services markets; excessive bureaucracy and administrative burdens; tax and benefit systems that create the wrong incentives; insufficient investment in education, research and development, etc.
I think we can all agree on the diagnosis – the supply side of our economies is less than optimal. Thankfully, we also have a shared understanding of what the remedies should be.