Plan proposed to counter EU 'stagnation'

Paris

WARNING that Europe risks a "stagnation trap", leading French and German economists have proposed reforms and investments to revive growth in the eurozone's two biggest economies, but Berlin swiftly dismissed a key proposal to boost its public investment.

Henrik Enderlein, of Germany's Hertie School of Governance, and Jean Pisani-Ferry, head of the France Strategie government think tank, offered an implicit trade-off between shaking up the rigid French labour market and regulated professions, and a public investment boost in creaking German infrastructure.