EU Needs Common Debt to Remain Competitive, ECB’s Panetta Says

The European Union needs common borrowing to compete with the United States and ensure a future of growth and innovation for the continent, European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said.

“At the root of the European economy’s low productivity lies its insufficient capacity for innovation, which in turn is due to the lack of dynamism in the business sector,” he said in a speech on Tuesday. “In the last decade, investment in research and development by European companies has been about 60% that of US companies, and the gap has been widening over time.”