Real Stuff: OECD’s Secretary General Constructs His Vision For Europe

Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD is convinced Europe is an entity that is constantly reinventing and redesigning itself and is always a work in progress. To know the strength of Europe he says you need to be patient and wait for the construction of the union to be complete. Only when you look beyond the work in progress can it be understood that the EU’s final structure will be of one of the strongest economies in the world.

'Mr. Gurria, we set you a challenge of bringing an object you've brought two to describe what you think are the Challenge for European growth is? Could you explain them?'

'Europe is always a work in progress. You can very easily underestimate Europe but you should look under the scaffolding - the question is always the scaffolding you know? You save money for 3 years to go to Europe and then you get to Notre Dame or the Duomo in Milan or the cathedral in Colon and then it's covered with the scaffolding you know! And it's noisy and it's dusty and you’ve detoured the traffic etc you go in and you cannot see the vitals because and you're very disappointed of course but then you come back 3 years later and they have finished you know? They have finished putting the cement and they have finished cleaning and they are redoing it! Europe is always reinventing itself and then it's awesome then what you see is absolutely fantastic! Now you can accuse the Europeans of everything except of being fast, they take the time, but once they're finished with the work you know...This awesome result! This is this is the view of Europe always reinventing itself, redesigning itself, strengthening itself, but always work in progress you know with a hard hat and always the trowel!'