Norway’s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg (left) with the president of the EU commission, José Manuel Barroso, on June 16. Stoltenberg paid a routine visit to Brussels, discussing global financial turmoil and prospects for the European economies with EU leaders. According to Stoltenberg, the financial crisis is fast becoming a debt crisis and a labor market crisis, with rising unemployment in many European countries. “The EU should not tighten its policies too much and too fast,” Stoltenberg told news bureau NTB after the talks. “That could lead to higher unemployment and make matters worse.” He said “it’s a problem” that the EU has a highly coordinated monetary policy, but much less coordination of economic policies.
Stoltenberg’s opinion is of limited interest to the EU, however, since Norway is not a member country. On Stoltenberg’s wish list to the EU is a seat on a new committee charged with monitoring financial market risk, but he apparently had to go home empty-handed.
Photo by REUTERS/Thierry Roge
