ANALYSIS OF EUROPEAN UNION COMPETITIVENESS FROM A NEW MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL PERSPECTIVE

The central objective of this study is to analyze the competitiveness of European Union through the prism of its influence factors: public debt, budget deficit, competitiveness of national economies,credit default swap. Based on these factors were obtained three regression functions for EU competitiveness. The results of the analysis reveal that the EU competitiveness is influenced by two main factors: sovereign risk and competitiveness of national economies. In the current economic situation, sovereign risk rate of 48.52% influences on EU competitiveness, and competitiveness of national economies at a rate of 33.63%. Among the three risk variables underlying the sovereign risk, public debt ratio is most important, thus showing that any sovereign debt crisis would adversely affect the competitiveness of the European Union, followed by the value of the CDS and by the budgetary equilibrium. The second factor, the competitiveness of national economies is mainly determined by the global competitiveness index.The model proposed in this study identifies the factors underlying the central objective of the Lisbon Strategy, namely to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world.