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EC vice-president names shortage of investment as EU's main economic problem

Xinhua, February 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU)'s biggest problem is a shortage of investment, the European Commission's (EC) First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said at a meeting of European parliamentarians in Riga on Monday.

Speaking at a conference for EU parliamentary chairpersons (COSAC), Timmermans voiced hope the investment plan proposed by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker would solve this problem.

In November 2014, Juncker unveiled a 315-billion-euro (about 357 billion U.S. dollars) investment plan intended to promote the bloc's economic growth. The investment plan foresees a mobilization of public and private finances wherein public money is used to generate additional private investment without creating new debt.

Pointing to benefits from the creation of the bloc's digital single market, Timmermans said the implementation of this initiative required a proper legal basis for personal data protection.

Timmermans also named a number of other issues the current European Commission was expected to tackle, such as the migration of labor forces from non-EU countries and the increasing threat to the security of its citizens in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in France.

The COSAC conference, which draws chairpersons, members of European Parliament, experts and high-level officials, is one of six events the Latvian parliament is organizing during the Latvian presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in the first half of 2015. The conference takes place every six months. Endit