EU emerging as largest economy

[dArKeR]

AFP , PARIS
Monday, May 03, 2004,Page 12

The new EU goes back to work this week with 25 members, and the long-term economic consequences of its historic enlargement could prove greater than the continent's political reunification.

The EU is now a market of 455 million people, more than half again the size of the US, putting the EU third behind China and India.

With a comparable GDP last year of 9.746 trillion euros (US$11.7 trillion), according to the EU's statistics unit Eurostat, the union now rivals the US as the world's largest economy, though the latter is growing faster.

The 10 new EU members -- Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- have added 20 percent to the bloc's population, but only 5 percent to GDP.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2004/05/03/2003153994

[madrchsod]

1. no more us dollars

as the worlds money standard..it will be the euro within ten years

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. What will happen is that with so many.....

strong economies, we can choose whether we wan to use Dollars, Euros, Chinese Yuans, or Indian Rupees. Though, India's economy needs to develop some more before that happen's and thanks to *, the U.S economy is going to be much weaker in 10 years so we'll see what happens.

[tritsofme]

3. First they need to solve their demographics problem,

or they (especially in Western Europe) can look forward to stagnation for decades to come.