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Taking on Europe's Challenges < Back
The high levels of uncertainty that continue to plague the euro zone stem from Europe's inability to take any important economic actions until 2010, according to IESE Prof. Eduardo Martínez-Abascal.
In two separate sessions with IESE alumni in Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo this week, Prof. Martínez-Abascal described problems currently faced by Europe and "numbers to understand the mess."
The Continuous Education sessions are among the lead-up events to 2012 IESE's Global Alumni Reunion, which will be held in Latin America for the first time. The GAR, which will bring together IESE graduates from around the world for academic sessions and networking opportunities, will take place Nov. 1-3 in Sao Paulo.
During his remarks, Prof. Martínez-Abascal said that the EU's failure to act was due to complex governmental structures; the fact that national interests prevail in times of crisis; and politicians' lack of economic expertise and inability to explain decisions to the public.
In contrast with Europe, the U.S. injected funds - part of which have already been recovered - into the economy much sooner, in 2008. As a result, the U.S. economy grew 3 percent in 2010.
Europe, meanwhile, responded much slower, taking national measures to rescue domestic banks, then later bailing out Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Isolated actions such as these "don't tackle the heart of the problem," he said, which are rooted in Europe's lack of growth and political unity.
Europe, he said, should do what the U.S. did in 2008 and 2009: seek to control markets, inject liquidity into the economy and implement comprehensive solutions for the banking crisis.