Seven-Up for Europe: a plan for growth

Wall Street Journal ^ | October 26, 2004 | GERHARD SCHROEDER

[OESY]

...I will suggest to my colleagues at the summit a program called "Seven Chances for the Internal Market."

• First, all EU consumers must be able, by mid-2007, to freely choose their electricity and energy providers, as is the case in Germany since 1998. This will intensify cross-border competition, benefit consumers and industries by providing cheaper energy and stimulate economic activity across the board.

• Second, we must continue to ensure the stability and growth of European financial markets. We also have to increase the global competitiveness of EU financial institutions. The supervision of the financial sector should be practical and cost-efficient. Therefore, we're calling for the creation of a European-wide system of financial supervision.

• Third, we must make consumer banking in Europe more efficient. The handling of money transfers across EU borders must become faster and cheaper for customers. EU-wide standards for money transfers, the credit card business and debit advance procedures will ease....

• Fourth, trade in services has enormous, and untapped, potential for growth....

• Fifth, we support the consolidation of the EU's defense industry. We should intensify our efforts to standardize munitions to ease intra-EU arms sales, coordinate research activities and jointly control military exports....

• Sixth, we need a European contract law....

• Seventh, we want to harmonize how each country assesses corporate taxes. The EU's 25 different fiscal systems produce inefficiencies and distortions. We need an internal market free of fiscal differences. An important step in this direction was the introduction of a unified taxation assessment basis for incorporated enterprises (joint stock companies). A second step could be the introduction of a corridor for corporate taxes charged by individual EU members, as was the case with the sales tax....

[OESY]

Mr. Schroeder is Germany's chancellor.

[blanknoone]

Translation: The EU needs to seize the last remaining vestiges of sovereignty of its member states. Although the 'choosing the energy provider' catches me off guard.

[cartan]

So now he wants cheaper energy, huh? Why, that would be easy: All he has to do is to revoke his own, idiotic energy tax. This guy is such a fraud.

[Atlantic Friend]

He's stating rather obvious things - like points 3,4,5, and 7, which are just economic common sense : who would be for a less efficient banking or defense sector ?

Point 6 could be studied, I guess, if it was really identified as a bump for economic prowess. I'm more skeptical about point 1 and, above all, point 2.