Charlemagne: Hopefulor hopeless?

摘要

The buzzword in Brussels these days is "growth". Perhaps the looming recession across much of Europe is concentrating minds. Or leaders may realise that the prospect of years of austerity is stirring bad blood. Unless the debt crisis was resolved and growth recovered, said Christine Lagarde, the imp's head, Europe and the world risked reverting to the 1930s. At their next summit on January 30th, European Union leaders will solemnly talk of boosting output, tackling youth unemployment, supporting small firms and much else. They might even commit money to job creation, for example by recycling unspent eu funds through the European Investment Bank.