중동부유럽

Levels of growth and investment in the European Union (EU) have fallen considerably. Since the global financial crisis emerged in 2008, the EU’s growth and its potential have been lagging. While in the post-crisis years banks were well advised to deleverage and reduce some overcapacity, there are now concerns of a chronic underinvestment in many EU countries. These concerns persist despite of record low interest rates and enough liquidity in the market. The success of the Juncker Plan will to a large extend depend on policy reforms. There is a broad consensus that EFSI financing can only succeed to accelerate investments if it is complemented with critical structural reforms. These concern especially public investment management towards establishing a stronger project pipeline, leveraging private sector, as well as the deepening of the Single Market in the financial, energy, transport, and digital sectors. In addition to these initiatives at the EU level, member states need to address more context-specific investment challenges at the national level. Identifying and removing these various challenges to investment is an important step toward enhancing the investment climate. After all, in the context of weak investment the Juncker Plan is a solid framework and has started to get traction. The Plan is less about money and more about collective action and structural policies: it is a supply-side initiative for those who see lack of investment as a constraint on European growth, and a demand-side initiative for those who see the need to provide stimulus in the economy. Going forward, concrete and effective policy measures under the other two pillars will be essential to complement EFSI funding and to ensure that additional funds can be effectively deployed into the European economy.