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3/17/06

FT.com: Call for EU to speed up economic reforms

For the full report go to FT.com or click on link

Call for EU to speed up economic reforms by Andrew Bounds and Chris Smyth in Brussels

Europe's business leaders on Thursday told their political counterparts to hasten economic reforms or face obsolescence.At the opening of a two-day conference in Brussels ahead of next week's European Union summit, leading chief executives lined up to ram home the message that competition from Asia would only increase. Heinrich von Pierer, chairman of Siemens, the German conglomerate, said: "Globalisation has so far been a storm. The hurricane is yet to come. We have to prepare."

Mr von Pierer, who heads German industry's Asia-Pacific forum, said that India and China were pursuing a "high-tech, low-cost" model of growth, and that greater innovation was the only way for Europe to keep ahead.

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