Friday, 25 September 2009An OECD report, which tries to analyse the current situation in the EU economy, has recently been released. The report points out that after the brutal economic crisis, EU members have begun a recovery process earlier than expected and the EU should take important measures to maintain this recovery process. According to the report, to strengthen economic growth, long term reforms which strengthen innovation, deepen the single market, and move to a low carbon economy should be adopted. Additionally, Angel Gurría, the OECD Secretary-General, defines the crisis period as a time for further economic reforms by saying that, “[e]conomic crises can offer opportunities to carry out important reforms to reinforce the long-term resilience of the economy.”
The report argues that the research and innovation policies (reforms) should be accelerated because, “R&D expenditure in the EU is well below that in the United States and Japan, and despite the target for EU–wide R&D expenditure of 3% of GDP by 2010, limited progress has occurred in recent years.” Competitiveness is used as the main tool to deepen the single market since competitive pressure boosts the growth which plays a crucial role for the single market.
The report also focuses on the energy sector and indicates that, “[t]o ensure that the transition to a low–carbon economy is achieved at a low cost, the EU should seriously consider including all transport sectors in the Emissions Trading Scheme when practical and appropriate, and ensure that only sectors rigorously identified as being at genuine risk of carbon leakage should continue to receive free allowances until 2020.”
According to the report, the EU should continue decisively to implement free trade policies despite the protectionist pressures originated from the crisis because “[t]he EU has a significant interest in opposing rising protectionist sentiment and undertaking further trade liberalisation.”
Yilmaz KAPLAN (JTW)
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Friday, 25 September 2009
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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