State of the Union

The State of the Union tracks reform across all 27 EU countries, with each chapter contributed by a regional expert from our network of Europe`s most influential think tanks and brightest policymakers and thinkers.

In the wake of expansion and increasing levels of both economic and political integration, this publication seeks to track the progress of market oriented reform in each EU member state. Each chapter tackles this challenge in different ways; many authors have zoomed in on one area of public policy to illustrate the successes and failures of reform in their home country: healthcare, for example, or tax.

The expansion of the Stockholm Network`s own work and the spread of its affiliated network of think tanks illustrates the rise of free market economics and liberal politics across the continent. Indeed, the tables in Europe have somewhat turned. New hope is now arising from many of the economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Their experiences since the fall of the Berlin Wall and their desire to move away from a top-down central state have led to them experiencing huge economic growth and prosperity. Now they are in many cases leading the way for others to follow with brave, if not always popular efforts to tackle healthcare and pensions and the widespread adoption of the controversial flat tax.

The message from this publication is clear: that reform is progressing at a rapid rate in Europe, and that improved public services and economic growth means that when it comes to well executed market reforms, the results speak for themselves.

The Stockholm Network and FAES Foundation are pleased to announce the publication of the Spanish version of The State of the Union or El Estado de la Union.

From the first issue of The State of Union (published in 2005) to this follow-up edition (published in English in April 2008), we have witnessed quite a number of political and economic changes in the EU. With this joint initiative, FAES and the Stockholm Network provide the Spanish speaking world with an analysis of the market-oriented economic reforms that have taken place in the European Union member countries up to early 2008.

Yet, in the past few months, the global financial crisis has threatened the achievements of many EU countries, which have successfully managed to embrace these reforms during the past few years.