This past Tuesday, the European Commission agreed. Its “reform recommendations” for the 27-member union said pretty much the same thing. The Financial Times succintly capture the spirit of the report under the heading “EU sees vision of new Europe which is rather less European” :
The Europe recommended by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch … would look very different to the Europe of only a few years ago.I have said many times that just about any thing that is coming your way is reported in your local paper. All you need is to pay attention, which includes reading between the lines.
Pension system would see their retirement ages raised. Long-protected industries would be deregulated. Guaranteed wage increases negotiated long and hard by trade unions would be renegotiated.
In other words, the European economic model or models would look far less European.
