U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will call for bold action to fuel economic growth in Europe by boosting competitiveness, developing the single market, reducing regulation, and entering free trade deals with countries that are willing.
"Tinkering here and there and hoping we'll drift to a solution simply won't cut it any more. This is a time for boldness not caution," he is due to say in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr. Cameron will argue the European Union has promoted unnecessary measures in the name of social protection that damage business and jobs while the European single market remains incomplete.
"And there are still a colossal 4,700 professions across the EU to which access is regulated by government," he will say.
Europe's lack of competitiveness remains its Achilles' heel, and it has failed to deliver the structural reforms it needs, Mr. Cameron will say. There should be a target to reduce the burden of EU regulation and all new EU measures should be tested for their impact on growth, he will say.
The U.K. prime minister's call comes after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth estimates for the world economy Tuesday and warned the euro-zone debt crisis could cut two percentage points off world-wide output this year and next if the bloc's leaders don't act soon.
Mr. Cameron is also under growing pressure to get the U.K. economy moving after official data released Wednesday showed gross domestic product dropped 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011, the first quarterly contraction for one year.
Mr. Cameron will concede that world leaders failed to make the progress on the World Trade Organization's Doha round of talks that they hoped for in 2011, but countries should not give up and try new and ambitious ideas to advance trade.
Mr. Cameron will say the WTO's work remains important to prevent protectionism, but progress in trade talks may rest with a "coalition of the willing." And rather than involving every country at once, countries should try and get bilateral trade agreements done, he will say.
"Let's get free trade agreements with India, Canada and Singapore finalised by the end of the year. Completing these could add 90 billion euros to EU GDP," he will say. "And let's also look at options for agreement between the EU and the U.S., where a deal could have a bigger impact than all of the other agreements put together."
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