The countries of Europe can maintain their strength, influence and competitiveness only within the framework of the European Union, former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said at Budapest's Central European University last week.

Giving a talk at a public lecture event entitled "Reinvention Europe" Bajnai said in the context of globalisation that under the current economic situation the EU must slowly and gradually adopt to market expectations through stronger coordination between the member states' economic policies and by keeping to stricter fiscal discipline. He advised that national budgets should more and more be overseen on an EU level, which, he added, could still be problematic from the European democracies' point of view. To overcome the economic and financial crisis member states need to cut public spending and implement structural reforms, while they must also ensure to maintain their competitiveness, Bajnai said. Asked about the European Commission's recent proposal to freeze 2013 cohesion funding to Hungary over its failure to reduce an excessive budget deficit, Bajnai urged adjustments the government should make to avoid losing those funds.

Watch the full lectureon: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20807929/Bajnai%20Excerpt.mp4

Source: MTI

Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 March 2012 21:25