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The issue of growth comes up everywhere – even in places you would least expect. It is the leading component of the EU’s long-term strategy until 2020, the name given to the Commission department in charge of the internal market, and it is associated with the EU’s health strategy. This year, growth even crept up to replace the word ‘poverty’; the annual European Platform Against Poverty was rephrased as the Convention on Inclusive Growth. The word ‘growth’ is repeated like an incantation, presented as the magic solution to all of our concerns about issues including poverty, inequality, unemployment, precariousness and access to services. We are told that when growth comes, we will all be saved. This has been ongoing for the last six years – but has growth actually occurred?

A picture is worth a thousand words. I would like to thank Sony Kapoor for providing such a telling chart:

The gulf between forecasted growth and actual growth really is quite astounding. Although the EU is performing better than the global average, it’s still far from sufficient to address the social emergency we are in; The Economist describes EU growth as “slack”, “disappointing” and “sluggish”. How long should we be expected to wait for the EU’s strategies to work? At what point will it be accepted that the growth agenda is failing people in the EU?

For six years the EU has been preaching the same message but it has yet to deliver on its promises. It’s time for a new narrative based on a people-centred approach to all policies. The economy should serve the people – not the other way around.

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand