For Europe’s Leaders, It’s Prosper or Perish

If the leaders of the European Union want to overcome the global wave of populism threatening their democracies, they need to revive an economy that has long failed to deliver prosperity. To do so, they must first get out of their own way.

Europeans consistently rank the economy as their No. 1 concern. It’s easy to see why. Since 2020, the typical adult’s income hasn’t kept up with inflation. Energy bills are about 60% higher. Overall output growth has averaged just 1.2%, leaving living standards — as measured by gross domestic product per capita — at the lowest level in more than four decades when compared with the US.