EFR trade body condemns EU and urges it to force members to discard trade barriers

The EU needs to force its members to drop trade barriers or it will lose out on a substantial boost to GDP growth, damaging its long term competitiveness and worsening the pension crisis, according an industry body. The European Financial Services Round Table (EFR) has called for rapid progress in four key areas: regulation and supervision; consumer protection; a single capital market; and pension reform. Pehr Gyllenhammar, chair- man of the trade body, believes if these areas were addressed, economic growth would increase from between 0.5% to 0.7% of annual GDP. The costs for...