The 'new' European Union facing present and future challenges: some economic issues

The paper first analyses the changes to some macro-economic indicators in 25 European Union countries. Gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, unemployment rate and general government gross debt, expressed as percentage of GDP, are all taken into account. Figures and trends are compared between the Euro area, i.e. the 12 countries introducing the single currency on January 1st 2002, and the other EU states. The mean results of the two groups of countries are substantially similar, but the economic indicators differ significantly in several member countries in both groups, according to each country’s internal economy. The second part of the paper focuses on the more recent relatively poor results of the European economies when compared to the U.S. and some East-Asian countries. In particular, China’s economic growth rate and rapid technological development in the last few years suggest that the present international equilibria could alter in the near future.