More capitalism would be a salve for Europe’s virus-related economic wounds
For weeks now, the “Frugal Four,” a group of northern European states including Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden, plus Finland, have been facing off against France and the continent’s southern member states, especially Italy and Spain. The occasion for debate has been a proposed 750 billion euro coronavirus recovery package. The southern nations want their northern counterparts to approve billions in grants, but the Frugal Four are determined to attach conditions to any handouts.
Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, for one, has called on Europe’s southern countries to reform their labor markets and pension systems, cut red tape, and tackle corruption. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has demanded that recipients of European Union aid should not only promise reforms before any grants are paid out but should have already implemented them. He called for an “absolute guarantee” that the reforms have actually taken place.
On the surface, the summit’s main aim is to approve a coronavirus relief fund to help the continent’s hardest hit countries, which include Italy and Spain. In reality, there is far more at stake than merely providing temporary aid. After all, the coronavirus crisis is not the reason that the economies of Italy and others are in such a mess. The pandemic has simply exposed existing faults, and these weaknesses all boil down to three words: not enough capitalism.
The southern European failings are evident in the Index of Economic Freedom, which has been compiled by the Heritage Foundation every year since 1995. The index, which sociologist Erich Weede has referred to as the “capitalism scale,” measures the economic freedom of 180 countries around the world. The Frugal Four plus Finland are all countries that score relatively high for economic freedom. In the ranking (the lower the score, the greater the economic freedom) the five countries place as follows:
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Πηγή: washingtonexaminer.com
