Hello, Rosie Blau here, co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.
We hope you enjoy it.
Everyone knows that the European Union's economy is weighed down by regulation.
But you may not have spotted that everyone now includes Europeans themselves.
They are so rattled that the momentum to fix the problem is the greatest in a generation.
On April 28th, the EU unveiled plans for its rule-making to be simpler and more consistent.
It gave a timeline for accomplishing this and for removing barriers to trade within the bloc.
The trillion-euro question is whether, after many false starts,
Europe can at last turn its good intentions into progress.
Europe needs to grow if it is to pay its debts,
care for its swelling legions of elderly citizens,
and defend itself without America's help.
Yet its economy is far behind that of Uncle Sam.
In the first quarter, its output barely grew, and now the Iran war has driven up energy prices.
The battle for growth is being fought on two fronts.
The first is in Brussels, where two very different strategies vie for favor.
Some Eurocrats think the EU should pivot to subsidies, protectionism, and Chinese-style state capitalism.
Others prefer the liberal route of more open, competitive, and integrated markets.
In recent years, the EU's economic thinking