Europe needs a convincing recovery strategy

Economic prosperity and social progress are key goals of the European Union. But for five years it has delivered neither. It has been in a double-dip recession since mid-2011, with unemployment now at a record-high 11% and no tangible improvement in sight.

The crisis has lasted longer in Europe than in the US or the rest of the world mainly because of poorly designed monetary union, without an appropriate framework of rules for banks and other financial institutions or sufficiently robust budgetary instruments.(2)