I am surprised that such a famous economist as K. Rogoff publishes such an article.



1. The policy of intra-European workers' flows was already applied during several years by diverse governments, in particular by the UK, officially from 2004. 70 % of the 4 million jobs created between 1994 and 2010 benefited to foreigners according to Duncan Smith (in charge of the work department). The workforce was maybe of "better quality ", but it also reveals the incapacity of the country to improve the professional skills of the working population, although the number of recipients of the "Employment and Support Allowance" (not the "job seekers'a llowance") fell from 1,76 millions to 810 000 between 1997 and 2008. On the other hand, Poland for example certainly took advantage of it and also of facilitated relocations therefore.

In Germany, the coming of very numerous immigrants from Eastern Europe in the 1990s coincided with a continuous increase in unemployment.

2. Declared shortages of very qualified workers led the German government in 2011 to allow in turn workers from countries admitted in 2004 without restriction. But Germany still has a rather important reserve workforce, those who alternate between mini-jobs and inactivity.

Besides, can we imagine that flows from Southern Europe will resolve the problems of these countries ?



2. Fiscal transfers in favour of several European countries have been very high since their integration in the EU. Spain, Greece and Portugal received for example 87,2 Mrds€ within the "structural funds" and 132,5 Mrds€ within the the European "public funds" over the period 2000-2006. The 10 countries admitted in 2004 received only 15 Mrds€ of "structural funds" and 21 Mrds€ of "public funds", but during the following period, they got a total amount of 185,5 Mrds€ of "structural funds" and 314 Mrds€ of "public funds".



3. A more integrated political union does not thus seem necessary, in particular since the "Lisbon Treaty". The Gordian knot being the role of the ECB, Germany has actually been trying to protect itself from more integration, however accepting concessions. But what would be the most likely options if decisions were taken by the Council of Ministers with a qualified majority ? Would they be optimal ?



4. An exchange rate policy is on the contrary required, so much more as the foreign trade is an exclusive domain of the EU, but the € seems to resist all disorders. Then how leading an optimal exchange rate policy ?