‘Hire and fire’ is no recipe for Europe, says EU jobs chief

In an interview with the Financial Times on 12 November 2002, the day before publication of the European Union's annual Employment Report, the European Commissioner for Employment, Anna Diamantopoulou said that Europe had a strong record in creating jobs and did not need a US-style 'hire and fire' labour market. Ms Diamantopoulou insisted that a rigid labour market was not the main problem facing the European economy and that although further labour reforms were needed, the EU economy was being hindered by more important problems, such as a failure to fully open up Europe's internal market.