Bruegel

Growth in Europe is projected to be weak in 2012 and 2013. This is true for the aggregate but the outlook is much worse for many of the countries in the South. The south of the eurozone is struggling with a twin challenge: high (external) debt and weak competitiveness.

Greece is expected to receive this year about €6bn in funds to support long-term investment projects. Yet, country has €15bn in outstanding EU funds, thus more could and should be channeled to the economy. Moreover, country-specific emergency measures should now be substituted by a permanent mechanism to support growth in Europe with an EU Growth Fund.

In this op-ed, published in Le Monde, Jean-Pisani Ferry assesses the work of traditional parties in European countries in building effective debate about the responses and resolutions to the crisis.

This paper takes stock of global efforts towards financial reform since the start of the financial crisis in 2007-08, and provides a synthetic (if simplified) picture of their status as of January 2012.

Throughout the crisis period, the European Central Bank’s behavior has been conditioned by the tension between what it can do and what it is allowed to do.

On Friday 13 January Standard and Poor's downgraded nine euro-area countries. Beyond the headline-grabbing downgrade of France, this reassessment is a vote of no-confidence on the decisions taken on 9 December by the European leaders.