Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann yesterday (9 October) published his long-awaited report into competitiveness

Date: 10/10/1996

saying that Europe was lagging behind the US and Japan. “The EU is not exploiting its full potential or meeting the performance of its major competitors in terms of living standards, productivity and employment creation,” says the report. The reasons for this are high costs, low investment levels, excessive budget deficits, insufficient research spending and innovation, and slow adoption of new technologies.