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CHAPTER 3EUROPE AND RUSSIA

What we need to do on skills, productivity and enterprise is fairly obvious. We just need to get on and do it.

—Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister

March 2007 was the fiftieth anniversary of the EU success story. Founded as an economic pact by six Western European nations, the EU has grown to twenty-seven member states, 500 million people, and an economy equal in size—though not in strength—to that of the United States.

Today millions of Europeans cross their national borders without showing a passport. A single currency, the Euro, unites these economies as never before. Yet each nation is struggling to keep its cultural identity while pledging support to something bigger.

During the next decade, a talent ...

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