The Lisbon Scorecard VII: Will Globalisation Leave Europe Stranded?

Every year for the past seven years, the Centre for European Reform, in London, has issued a report card on the European Union's "Lisbon agenda," the economic reform program launched in 2000. The grade this year? A C overall, with plenty of gold stars for Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and some black marks for Bulgaria, Malta, Poland, and Romania. The most significant progress across the EU has come in the areas of pension reform, the liberalization of telecommunications markets, financial services, air travel, and small-business creation. The availability of 50 million low-cost workers from the new member states has also helped. But EU productivity growth is still slow, innovation lacking, and labor markets too rigid. This detailed and well-researched report shows how serious the EU is about trying to liberalize its markets but also how much resistance among member states remains.