Los inversores internacionales huyen del "corazón" de Europa

Tendencia Financial Times cuenta que los inversores internacionales huyen del “corazón” de la UE, ya que, a su modo de ver, Francia y Alemania son una amenaza para el crecimiento y la prosperidad del resto de Europa. Verbatim: Foreign investment in Germany and France plunges By Christopher Swann in Washington Foreign investment in France and Germany fell sharply in 2004, reinforcing concerns that inflexible labour practices and weak domestic demand are driving investors elsewhere. In France, inward investment almost halved from $43bn (€35.44bn) to $24bn, according to figures released yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the group representing the world’s most industrialised countries. In Germany, foreign investors actually withdrew $39bn, having invested $27bn in 2003. Mark Zandi, chief strategist at Economy.com, the consultants group, said the data showed US companies the main source of direct investment funds in 2004 were spending their cash piles mainly on Asian investments. “US companies are attracted to Asia partly because the currencies remain competitive, but also as low cost bases for production destination and as growing markets in their own right,” he said. “Europe is almost a mirror image of this, with a more expensive currency, weak domestic demand, high labour costs and, now, political uncertainty.”