Next Commission needs ‘courage’ to redress Europe’s economy, experts say

The Bruegel think tank published a report 'Memos to the new Commission - Europe's economic priorities 2010 - 2015, in August 2009. These Memos, addressed to the next European Commission President and to the new European Commissioners, are written by Bruegel Scholars and edited by Senior Research Fellow André Sapir and focus on key economic aspects of EU policy-making.

The new Commission will enter office at a challenging time for Europe, the EU and the Commission itself. The crisis has clearly exposed weaknesses in EU governance which need to be addressed and the memos make a number of concrete recommendations of relevance for major economic fields, as well as for the EU and Commission as a whole.

Addressing the next Commission President, André Sapir and Jean Pisani-Ferry propose that effective leadership will be necessary to give strategic direction to the Commission, “you [the president] should therefore be ready to fight for ideas and take risks” (JPF-AS). The Memos suggest that the EU will need to assert a position on commonly agreed rules, propose new solutions and, importantly, has an opportunity now to redefine the European narrative in the global arena.

Focusing on the most important economic questions at EU level, the Bruegel memos are intended to be strategic, outlining the state of affairs that will be met by the new Commission and the key challenges and priorities they will need to consider over the next five years.

Bruegel: Memos to the new Commission - Europe's economic priorities 2010 - 2015 http://www.bruegel.org/nc/publications/show/publication/memos-to-the-new-european-commission.html

---