Poland bottom of the EU league

A new report by the London-based Centre for European Reform puts Poland at the bottom of the league for competitiveness among the 25 European Union nations. Their Lisbon Scorecard VI report was launched by EC President Barroso in Brussels today, and will be launched in london on Wednesday. The report put Italy as low as 23rd out of the 25 EU members, down with Bulgaria and Romania. The report is not yet available online, but EU Observer today carried the following report, Poland 'villain' on economic reform scorecard:

Denmark, Sweden and Austria top the list of this year's Lisbon scorecard on EU states' competitiveness issued by the Centre for European Reform (CER). The CER's Lisbon Scorecard is a yearly document issued by the London-based think- tank assessing member states' progress on the so-called Lisbon Agenda – the bloc's aim to become the most competitive economy in the world.

...Denmark and Sweden are once again this year's numbers one and two on the scoreboard, while Austria has climbed from place five to place three, Aurore Wanlin, researcher at the CER told EUobserver. The UK and the Netherlands took place four and five on the 2006 scorecard, with the Dutch dropping from number three to five on the 27-strong list which comprises the EU-25 plus acceding states.

"Austria has made important reforms in the area of flexible employment," Ms Wanlin explained of Vienna’s surge on the list. She added that "Denmark in particular has shown that flexible labour market rules can be combined with a high level of security, for example by training programmes offered by the state."

The five countries topping the list also did well on innovation and research and development, she said. The scorecard identifies "heroes" and "villains" in the area of economic reform, on the basis of a set of indicators based on Eurostat figures, as well as on prospects of further reform.

The villains
Poland, which occupies place 26 on the list, has been earmarked as this year's "villain" by the London researchers because of its poor performance on indicators such as long-term unemployment, but also because of its recent shift of government.

"The new government is right-wing populist and the pace of reforms is likely to decrease," said Ms Wanlin. Poland's government is led by the conservative Law and Justice party, which has been criticised for its protectionism, its dislike of foreign investment and its encroachment on the independence of the country's central bank.

Malta is last on the list, but this is primarily because Eurostat indicators for the Mediterranean island are lacking, said Ms Wanlin. Other poor performers are newcomers Bulgaria (25) and Romania (24) as well as Italy (23), which was last year's "villain."

France and Germany occupy place eight and ten on the list, with France jumping from place 11 last year primarily because of improving employment figures.

As a whole, the scorecard reveals a "mixed picture," on the EU's progress in meeting its Lisbon goal, said Ms Wanlin. At the company level, important competitiveness gains have been made, not least in Germany. But the liberalisation of important sectors like energy lags behind.

Comments

[Jonn]

Does anybody know why rising employment should be seen as a sign of growing competitiveness? It's clearly a positive sign for the economy as a whole (not to mention the people who get to go back to work), but I don't see how it makes the economy more competitive. If anything, if it were unaccompanied by other reforms, surely it could even make the economy less competitive by pushing up labour costs.

(I'm not an economist, so am quite prepared to have utterly missed something here.)