protectionism

June 23, 2020

The Issue at Stake Was Not to Choose Between Lives and the Economy

We often hear that managing a crisis like coronavirus depends on societal choices. The choice would be to save lives or economies. Health and economic data show that reality is much more complex than this simplification of the dilemma. Some countries have managed to accommodate both. Others, like France, have registered both a high mortality rate and a significant economic setback.
June 3, 2020

No Relocation Without Tax and Regulatory Relief

French inadequacies in the face of the COVID-19 crisis are giving rise to a fully fledged attack on globalisation. We are observing an increase in speeches aimed at regaining sovereignty, particularly in the field of health. But the challenge for France is, above all, to address its internal weaknesses.
May 28, 2020

Now Is Not the Time to Go Soft on Globalisation (Part 1)

The progress that free trade and globalisation have achieved are coming under severe threat from the Covid-19 pandemic. There are siren calls for increased state interference in economic life favoured by the political left, while right-wing populists are calling for increased protectionism or “de-globalization”.
May 5, 2020

The Problems of Financing Through European Mechanisms

There has been a great deal of debate recently – not just in the media, but also in academia and among economic analysts – about the availability and desirability of various financial instruments to deal with the fallout from the Corona crisis, especially for some of the worst-hit nations such as Spain or Italy.
April 11, 2020

Why Do Germany and the Netherlands Oppose Coronabonds?

In recent weeks, the global impact of the coronavirus has brought a huge number of new questions to the fore. For the time being many remain unanswered but, as often happens, in some cases a lack of answers in itself can direct us towards the heart of the problem.
March 16, 2020

Is the European Commission to Blame for the Absence of European Champions?

Following the veto of the Alstom-Siemens merger, the European Commission has been criticised for preventing the creation of “European champions” of comparable size to those emerging from the United States in the digital field or China in the industrial field.