Rebuilding Europe’s Competitiveness

The report argues that Europe's economic crisis is fundamentally caused by a persistent competitiveness shortfall, particularly a divide between a productive North and a less productive South and East. It examines three critical areas for improvement: entrepreneurship and innovation, talent mobilization, and market efficiency. Through case studies—such as Germany's EXIST programme, Denmark's flexicurity model, and the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)—the document highlights that successful reforms rely on multistakeholder partnerships, policy consistency, sustained political leadership, and a sense of urgency often triggered by crisis.

• Europe faces a significant competitiveness gap compared to other advanced economies, specifically the United States, particularly in innovative capacity, higher education and training systems, and labour market efficiency.
• A stark internal divide exists within the EU, where Northern European countries consistently outperform Southern European countries across almost all competitiveness pillars, which contributes to macroeconomic instability in the Eurozone.
• Southern European countries are implementing structural reforms to address microeconomic foundations, including aligning collective wage-bargaining with business needs and reforming competition regulators in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
• The German EXIST programme, launched in 1997, addresses the gap between high-quality research and business creation by providing funding and support for knowledge-driven university start-ups, supporting over 12,600 ideas and 3,460 start-ups.
• Denmark's 'flexicurity' model combines high employer flexibility in hiring and firing with high social protection for workers and mandatory retraining, resulting in one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU (7.6% in 2011).
• Germany's Hartz labour reforms (2002-05) reduced structural unemployment by strengthening incentives to work and deregulating temporary work, contributing to a decline in unemployment from 10.5% in 2004 to 6.0% in 2011.
• The German dual system of vocational and educational training (VET) effectively bridges the gap between theory and practice by combining school-based teaching with workplace training, contributing to low youth unemployment (7.9% as of June 2012).
• Finland's education reforms, characterized by decentralization and high teacher qualifications (requiring Master's degrees), have supported its transition to a knowledge-based economy and high PISA performance.
• Sweden's deregulation of network industries and professional services in the 1990s enhanced labour productivity growth by an estimated 0.85% during that decade.
• The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative aims to integrate the retail payment market across 32 countries, with potential benefits estimated at up to 123 billion euros over six years through technical standardization.
• The EU Directive on Services in the Internal Market failed to achieve full liberalization because the 'country-of-origin principle' was removed due to resistance from trade unions and fears of 'social dumping'.
• Successful competitiveness reforms in Europe are typically characterized by multistakeholder partnerships, policy consistency over long periods, strong political leadership, and a sense of urgency often created by economic crises.

APA

World Economic Forum (2013). Rebuilding Europe’s Competitiveness. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_RebuildingEuropesCompetitiveness_Report_2013.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Rebuilding Europe’s Competitiveness. 2013. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_RebuildingEuropesCompetitiveness_Report_2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Rebuilding Europe’s Competitiveness |date=2013 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_RebuildingEuropesCompetitiveness_Report_2013.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2013rebuilding, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Rebuilding Europe’s Competitiveness}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2013}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_RebuildingEuropesCompetitiveness_Report_2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }