Davignon says he is optimistic about the future of Europe and about Romania.
“Our conclusion is there is no alternative to what we are doing, we have to keep going, everything we have done so far forces us to do so. People outside Romania are more confident in Romania’s development possibilities than Romanians themselves are. “
Davignon spoke at a conference on Thursday at central bank to celebrate 20 years since the setting up of the Romanian Association for the Rome Club. The conference was hosted by real estate entrepreneur Liviu Tudor, general secretary of the Romanian association for the Club of Rome.
Professor Ugo Bardi, an important member of the Club of Rome, spoke at the beginning of the conference about the importance of material resources.
“People are talking about the financial crisis, but they forget economy is a science of material things. Banks create resources too, but the economy depends on mineral resources. Their price has trebled in the past 10 years, the price of oil has increased four-fold. For countries that don’t have mineral resources, this is an increasingly heavy burden. The European Union imports of $500 million’ worth of oil and gas, i.e. 4% of GDP.”
The price increase means additional expenditures of 1% of GDP for the same amount, this being an important factor behind the crisis, but one that has not been very much taken into account. Italy for instance has reached 4-5% imports of fossil fuel and 7% of GDP – imports of mineral resources. In this regard Romania fares a little better because it only imports fossil fuels that make up 2% of its GDP, he says.
Viscount Etienne Davignon said there was no alternative to deeper EU integration and that the absence of the euro would cost the EU a few percentage points of GDP.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)