Europe is aging, sagging in its efficiency, falling behind. How can we fix this?

Philippe-Emmanuel Partsch comes from a long line of Law Professors, who were forced to move country due to the changing political climate of Europe through the last century. He was raised knowing the fragility of Europe, alongside its potential.

Philippe-Emmanuel is a lawyer who has served at the European Court of Justice, private practice now at Arendt, university teaching and research. With over thirty years of working knowledge, he is well placed to consider how the European Union is functioning right now and its place in the context of global competition.

Brexit and increasing populism encouraged Philippe-Emmanuel to write a book due to his growing concern for the evolution of European society as it has steadily declined: ‘The Five Labours of Europe - a Europe that will make us Grow’.

Anne Calteux, Head of the European Commission Representation in Luxembourg, talks through a sizeable piece of commissioned work culminating in the paper by Enrico Letta, 'Much more than a market,

SPEED, SECURITY, SOLIDARITY Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU Citizens'

There are large swathes of overlap in the conclusions reached by Philippe-Emmanuel and Enrico Letta. Notably, that the internal market is no longer fit for purpose and Europe is in danger of regression. Europe, if taken as a whole, has a population of about 450 million people, compared to 330 million in the USA. Our landmass is about half that of the USA. This could provide opportunity if handled more dynamically.

In his book, Philippe-Emmanuel talks about Europe's sluggish productivity and wealth per hour creation compared to other parts of the world and how we can break down barriers to trade with member states more efficiently. He reminds us that 99.2% of businesses in Europe are SMEs with 5-6 people employed. Philippe-Emmanuel sets out clear potential and reachable goals to increase income and GDP, reduce unemployment and poverty in the coming years.

Deficiencies in research and development and innovation (R&D&I) is another clear beacon in both the book and paper. Currently, not enough money is being put into R&D&I in Europe and this needs to change now if we are to hope to keep pace with other nations. The cost of patent registration is much greater in the EU compared to the US. Philippe-Emmanuel is a fan of the Nordic approach to have lower taxation on Intellectual Property income.

We talk about the need to change financial structures to reinvigorate seed investment and private funding. Philippe-Emmanuel believes Euorpe does set the gold standard for some regulations.

Energy and Defence are two major areas where Europe needs to become more self-sufficient - we all learned this is recent year. And we have needed stronger trans-European transport links for decades. Did you know that the train between Luxembourg and Brussels got slower over the last 30 years?!

And all of this conversation is capped with a round-up of the week's global news with Sasha Kehoe.