A Europe of incentives: how to regain the trust of citizens and the markets

After months of failed short-term fixes and mounting panic, European leaders from Merkel to Cameron are now agreed that the only sustainable solution to the euro crisis is political integration.

In this ECFR policy brief 'A Europe of incentives: regaining the trust of citizens and markets’ by Mark Leonard and Jan Zielonka – the authors lay out how a more inclusive Europe could be achieved.

The paper also suggests ways to avoid a Two-Class Europe where decision making is dominated by powerful countries, the technocracy-populism trap and continued crushing austerity.

• Crisis countries need to be relieved from excessive interest rate burdens that prohibit growth, for instance through moving towards Eurobonds or introducing a European debt redemption fund.

• The gulf in competitiveness that lies at the heart of the euro crisis needs to be tackled with rewards for reform, rather than a punitive regime obsessed with rules and outcomes. Efforts need to be made to expand the single market in services, energy and the digital economy, and reinvigorate the vision of a Europe that brings prosperity.

• Europe needs to empower and involve its citizens rather than alienate them. For instance a weekly council of national deputy prime ministers could make Brussels more accountable and democratic, and a second European Parliament chamber could be created from national MPs to help sign off national budgets.

ECFR: Programme: Reinventing Europe http://ecfr.eu/reinvention/home

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