Herman Van Rompuy

Business leaders from across Europe met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss--among other things--a proposal from the European Commission to "reindustrialize Europe." The idea is to raise the share of industry in the region's economic output to 20% by 2020, from 15.6% now.Some executives at the annual European Business Summit, however, viewed the target as not much more than a vain hope. The real challenge they say is to prevent further deindustrialization of the continent.The problem faced by European industry derives from more than the fact that, as new figures this week emphasized, their home markets are mired in the longest recession since World War II. It is that many companies are stuck in a competitive vise.On the one hand, they face challenges from U.S. industry, revitalized by falling energy costs thanks largely to the successful exploitation of shale gas. On the other, there are the formidable Chinese exporters supported by bountiful cheap government credit and low-price inputs...

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