High inflation, low incomes, budget deficit: Here’s what is pushing Europe into an economic dark age

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Workers demand unpaid wages in Rieti, Italy, in April 2022.

Synopsis
Europe is staring at a lost decade. While the Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in higher food and fuel prices, the delay in labour-market reforms is hampering job creation. Consequently, the euro area has witnessed a rise in labour agitations. To climb up this slippery slope, Europe will need some extraordinary impetus.

Europe, the land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts. The land where the economy gets to stagger all over the continent. — Catalan writer and translator Núria Añó Last week, I had a chance to visit the Baltic region in Europe for a conference. My destination was Lithuania. Once part of the erstwhile Soviet Block, Lithuania still has a large population that speaks Russian. While the buildings and the