Reuters

A big fiscal splash still a step too far for Europe

Does the flagging eurozone need a fiscal boost as well as a monetary one? The debate in policy circles is slowly shifting.

I’m quoted right at the start of this excellent analysis piece by Mark John for Reuters.

“There is a shift towards talking about stimulus but there is no dramatic leap forward,” said Philippe Legrain, adviser to the European Commission during the aftermath of Europe’s 2009 sovereign debt crisis and author of the book “European Spring”, a diagnosis of Europe’s economic failings.

“There is no sense of urgency so far … That might happen when the euro zone enters recession.”

Read the full piece.

Quoted by Luke Baker of Reuters on Macron’s eurozone reform proposals

While Europe’s economy has picked up and there is no immediate sign of financial stress, many analysts maintain that reforms are needed to protect the single currency.

“Make no mistake, the euro desperately needs revamping,” Philippe Legrain, a former adviser to the European Commission president and a senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute wrote of the reforms.

“The eurozone’s institutional framework also needs fundamental reform in four big areas: finance, fiscal policy, economic imbalances, and democratic choice and accountability.”

Check out the full article.

Quoted by Reuters on EU refugee shambles

“The EU works reasonably well when sharing collective gains (from trade, for instance),” Philippe Legrain, a former European Commission adviser, wrote this week for Foreign Policy. “But it is hopeless at sharing out costs, whether the real ones of the financial crisis or the perceived ones of the refugee crisis.

“Seven long years of economic misery … have shredded support for collective European action … Unsurprisingly, then, the EU approach to the refugee crisis has been a shambles.”

Read the full piece here.