| bibo:abstract |
Political sustainability of the Eurozone
March 07, 2011 JUN Hae-won
Assistant Professor
Dept. of European and African Studies
Since the Greek budget crisis
in early 2010, the European
Union has not solved the
fundamental problems of
the European Economic and Monetary
Union. The lack of solutions led some
people to question the future of the
Euro and suspect the breakdown of the
eurozone. However, the breakdown of
eurozone is highly unlikely considering
the enormous costs expected to be
incurred in both political and economic
terms. Not only the European Union
but also the world economy would be
placed in extreme danger if a country
leaves the eurozone or the Euro itself
stops to exist. All of the solutions that
have been suggested for the eurozone
crisis within the EU are based on the
premise that the Euro will and should
exist.
Another opportunity for enhancing
cooperation with the EU lies in the
areas of R&D and education. Although
greater emphasis has been placed on
investment in R&D and education as
these two have been identified as
possible ways to increase the EU’s
competitiveness, it still remains difficult
to make a real investment in those areas
given austerity in the current EU
budget. In the area of education,
continuing austerity measures will
increase the possibility of reducing the
budget allocated to the education sector
despite a clear need for an investment
in this sector. Considering that the EU
cannot forego investment opportunities
in R&D and education sectors in order
to strengthen its competitiveness, it is
likely that the Union will turn to
improving relations with the countries
outside the EU in order to handle the
given situation. Also, given the EU’s
technical advantage in the environment
sector and Korea’s ambition to build
competence for sustainable development
in that particular field, it is called for the
Korean government to achieve greater
cooperation with the EU in sustainable
development. Expanding academic
exchanges between Korea and Europe,
such as the development of joint
academic programs between universities
in Korea and European universities,
would eventually allow Korea to increase
its competitiveness in the area of education
in the context of the Asian region.
|
