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Charlemagne: Unfree Trade

Recently the European Commission issued a proposal allowing the EU close its public-procurement markets to firms from countries that exclude European competitors from their public contracts. However, liberals are in shock, and far from supportive of the concept of restricted trade. Undeniably this is a seemingly strange proposal, given that European economies would like to export their way out of financial trouble. Not to mention this action directly contradicts the heart of Europe’s response to the euro crisis, which is to boost competitiveness, and not to coddle inefficiency. So why the sudden, somewhat suspicious proposal? And what effects might such a proposal have on the European economy?

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