Brown sets out stall on EU growth
Less-than-robust growth in the eurozone is threatening the global economy, chancellor Gordon Brown has told The Financial Times.
Noting the EU’s effect on the “imbalances” in the global economy, Mr Brown called for a new “sense of urgency” and a “new commitment to fundamental reform”.
Mr Brown made the case for EU policy chiefs to realign Europe with the economies of the US and Japan.
“There are still risks in the continuing imbalances caused by divergent growth rates in the US, Europe and Japan, from public debt in some emerging market economies and from Japan’s financial and corporate problems,” he said.
Mr Brown said that Europe had grown at a rate of three per cent in only one year in the past decade, while the US averaged three per cent over the same period.
As such, Europe had a “special responsibility” to keep growth on track.
Part of this “special responsibility” is keeping a more prudent eye on spending and reining in the EU’s £65 billion a year budget.
The Chancellor is opposed strongly to the European Commission’s plan to increase spending by 30 per cent.
But Mr Brown says Britain’s £2.7 billion a year rebate is strictly off limits.
Outlining his wish-list for change, Mr Brown called for a hastening of single market reforms, freer trade, more independent competition policy and the curtailment of state hand outs.
He exhorted Opec to increase production to lower oil prices to sustainable levels.
His comments come ahead of the Ecofin summit in Brussels on Friday.
EU finance ministers also meet for talks in Scheveningen, Netherlands, this weekend.
