“Europe should keep protecting the unemployed population”, Pascal Lamy, WTO director general

Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation pointed out at Davos that world economy is improving thanks to emerging
countries.

In an exclusive interview with euronews’ reporter Constantino de Miguel, Mr Lamy explained that Europe should stick to its social policies protecting those unemployed so that the economy bounces back again. With the current fragile recovery, countries should avoid the temptation of protectionism, stressed Mr Lamy.

“We have some recovery after the bad year we had on 2009, but it is still fragile and very depending on the part of the world that is growing, namely emerging countries.”

“As far as Europe is concerned the right thing to do is to keep addressing social insecurity so that people feel safer for the future, save a bit less and consume a bit more”

“There is a protectionist temptation although for the moment it hasn’t seriously materialize. People should understand that if you start protecting your imports your neighbours are going to do the same, and your neighbor’s imports are your exports. So at the end of the day trade protectionism doesn’t work.”

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