Europe Has Fallen Behind the U.S. and China. Can It Catch Up? ( www.nytimes.com )

A “competitiveness crisis” is raising alarms for officials and business leaders in the European Union, where investment, income and productivity are lagging.

Europe’s share of the global economy is shrinking, and fears are deepening that the continent can no longer keep up with the United States and China.

“We are too small,” said Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who recently delivered a report on the future of the single market to the European Union.

“We are not very ambitious,” Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, told The Financial Times. “Americans just work harder.”

“European businesses need to regain self-confidence,” Europe’s association of chambers of commerce declared.