17/11/2008 12:11:04 pm
Re-Start Indeed. I just came back from Tallinn after speaking this Saturday at a major economic conference called Re-Start. It was a very professional event, with some 400 businessmen and politicians as guests. I was the first speaker, followed by Siim Kallas, vice President of the European Commission, and Bo Lundgren, Director General at the Swedish National Debt Office. Then we had a panel discussion. I also talked to Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who ended the conference.

Estonia is in recession, and there is fear of what will happen. But of course the economy will come back - most people at the conference thought within one year. Governments now have to avoid calls to bail out every single industry. That would be expensive for tax-payers, but it would also slow down progress. Governments also have to do two things at the same time: Crisis-management and long-term, structural, free-market reform. That is the only way to ensure that the re-start will be strong.