Needed: A growth strategy for Europe

The struggle to address the eurozone crisis means that Europe's unprecedented economic malaise is receiving far too little attention. To the extent that the EU has a growth strategy it relies heavily on the adoption of structural reforms in the crisis-hit eurozone economies.

But such reforms alone will not drive economic recovery in the short term, however important they could be in the long term. Demand is also crucial, and this requires more expansionary macroeconomic policies. Without them, the European economy faces economic stagnation, which threatens to exacerbate fiscal pressures (especially inside the eurozone), discredit economic reforms, and open the way for a surge in political populism.