Growth

To celebrate the new millennium European leaders agreed to make Europe 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion' by 2010. Having agreed that, they all breathed a sigh of relief, shook hands and sat down to lunch to celebrate the great things they were doing for their people. It was called the Lisbon Agenda because that is where they had the lunch were meeting.

Of course by 2010 Europe had actually slid down the list of competitive nations or areas of the world.

Why? The reason is that for most politicians in Europe, growth means government spending (you remember Gordon Brown used to call it 'investment'). Growth means more government not less.

Of course in the places we are competing with, the Far East, America and increasingly the Third World, growth means a refreshing absence of regulation and political interference. Perhaps the key words in the declaration are 'better jobs and greater social cohesion': someone slipped those in so it wouldn't matter if governments simply borrowed more money and handed it to the special interest groups in their countries in return for votes - that's how European politics works.

Now growth is back on the agenda. Leaders met in Brussels, some of them having just met at the G8 in America, and decided....er....to make a decision in June. Yes! A success!

I don't think we'll get a decision on anything in June, either. What they'll do is agree more infrastructure, more grands projets. Europe will become a dystopia of superb motorways and no trucks to drive on them.

And the money for the grands projets? Yes, borrowed of course. Greece will be invited to borrow money for high speed trains while being made to cut back on the health service.

This is Europe today: a dithering, self-important, corporatist political class which just hustles to stay in power at the expense of the poor.