ACCF Hosts First-Vice President of the European Parliament

ACCF Capital Formation Forum
Feb. 2005

”Why doesn’t the European economy work as well as the economy of the United States,” Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, First-vice President of the European Parliament, queried ACCF supporters at the February 10 Capital Formation Forum. The session marked the first of the ACCF’s forums for 2005.

Measured against almost every economic statistic, the U.S. economy outperformed Europe over the past four years, despite the plan initiated in 2000 to promote a more competitive and knowledge-based European economy by 2010. The EU’s recent mid-term assessment showed European economies had not improved as hoped under the plan, according to Dr. Vidal-Quadras.

Stability, cohesion and economic growth are the three legs of the European economic model, the EU official said, adding, “we simply can’t seem to make all three improve at the same time.” European economies are good at stability and have maintained fiscal discipline very well. They are good at cohesion – in fact, cohesion is the defining feature of the European economic model, which offers generous social benefits. “Where European economies fail is in promoting economic growth. We have not yet found the way to bring about good economic growth and job creation,” Dr. Vidal-Quadras said. Though it is tempting to blame this problem on difficulties in the international setting, growth in European economies has lagged since the 1940s, he said.

To move forward, the European economy needs deep structural reforms and an environment that is respectful of market participants, Dr. Vidal-Quadras emphasized. “We Europeans hope our transatlantic partnership with the United States can now be strengthened to bring peace and prosperity to a confusing and dangerous world.”

Dr. Vidal-Quadras also praised the work of the Brussels-based International Council for Capital Formation, ACCF’s sister organization, in Europe, and Dr. Margo Thorning, ICCF managing director and senior vice president and chief economist of the American Council for Capital Formation. The ICCF’s work in Brussels is very useful in bringing the concerns and views of the U.S. before the European Community, the European Parliament and other organizations in Brussels.

Long active in Spanish politics, Dr. Vidal-Quadras was first elected to the European Parliament for the 1999-2004 term and re-elected in 2004, when he was elected First-vice President. He is a Full Professor of Atomic and Nuclear Physics at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, presently on leave of absence.