On the challenge that is now over Europe

Europe doesn't afford to move backwards - we are in no position to do this. Our (Europe) situation is a lot more unsustainable than people think in terms of competitiveness, as we risk remaining as a number of small economies in a world of giants.

The US probably had the same issues Europe faces nowadays, concerning monetary and fiscal policy (btw, the US has a lot more internal cultural differences than usually people from outside recognise). But they were able to overcome them, and that is probably at the heart of its competitiveness. I am used to see Consumer Goods American companies leveraging the size of a coherent internal market to gain competitiveness at a global scale. Europe needs to be able to give its companies a similar opportunity.

And of course common monetary and fiscal policies are a challenge when you look at how different Germany and Portugal are (as an example) - but productivity (and, unfortunately, cost of resources... including human...) is nowadays the best solution to deal with this. The US made it work! So need we!