Speaking at the London School of Economics, the Czech prime minister Petr Necas has said Europe’s place in the world is being compromised by its lack of economic growth. He said the best recipe for curing the problem involved tearing down trade barriers with other parts of the world while liberalizing the services sector within the European Union. He said that significant structural reform was necessary, and that austerity alone would not free Europe from the problems facing it. The conservative Czech government has sided with the British in refusing to sign the European stability pact, a matter likely to be discussed when Necas meets the British prime minister David Cameron.
