Europe: Incoordination Means Protectionism
Wolfgang Münchau, Financial Times | February 16, 2009
The EU responded to the financial crisis in an uncoordinated fashion. ++ When stimulus plans are implemented on the national level, governments will go out of their way to keep the money in the national economy and bend competition rules. ++ Three effects follow: stimulus plans are compromised, the single market is adversely influenced, and an “existential threat to monetary union” is created. ++ The upcoming anti-protectionism summit is an opportunity to reconsider the root problem: not protectionism but non-coordinated efforts.
