The European economy stands at a crossroads. Recovery from the pandemic and energy crisis proved short-lived, and growth rates are stalling again. Markets await signals, investors seek stability, and governments need political mandates for unpopular measures.
International financial expert and investor Chaslau Koniukh is convinced: “Europe needs an advance payment—a series of decisive reforms requiring political courage today to deliver results in five or ten years. This is not an expense, but an investment in its own future.”
Koniukh emphasizes: the continent’s economic strength has not vanished, but it is losing momentum. While the United States and China redistribute global demand and resources, Europe risks remaining a mere observer. “And this,” the expert says, “is not just an economic threat, but a challenge to the EU’s political agency.”
Slow Growth and Market Bottlenecks: Chaslau Koniukh’s Assessment
According to Chaslau Koniukh, the Eurozone is entering a new economic cycle with growth rates hovering around 1% annually. The focus shifts from external shocks to internal inertia: low productivity, weak labor mobility, underfunded innovation, fragmented capital markets. Add the sharp increase in energy costs in 2022-2023, which hit business expenses, and we have a mixture eroding investment plans.
Koniukh explains: “For years, Europe compensated for weak dynamics with cheap credit and fiscal cushions. But this recipe is exhausted. Now it’s critically important to open the ‘bottlenecks’—from regulatory barriers to slow permit procedures.”
Another problem is the imperfection of the single services market. For tech, consulting, or financial companies, it still looks like a mosaic of national rules. This pressures margins and constrains scaling. According to Koniukh, “when a company spends months coordinating licenses between EU countries, it loses the market not in Brussels, but in San Francisco or Shenzhen—where it’s faster.”
Moreover, the demographic factor is becoming increasingly tangible. Population aging, shortage of young talent, and migration uncertainty lead to declining labor productivity. The expert believes this is not only a social but also an economic problem: “Europe risks being left without those capable of creating added value. Without labor market renewal, no growth strategy will work.”
From Capital Markets to Cheaper Energy: Chaslau Koniukh’s Reform Recipe
What exactly should Europe do to transform structural weakness into economic breakthrough?
International institutions propose dozens of measures, but experts agree: a comprehensive strategy is needed that combines financial, technological, and regulatory reforms.
Chaslau Koniukh explains: “The European economy is not in crisis—it’s in stagnation. And to shake it up, we need not to support what exists, but to create something new. The question is where exactly to find growth points.”
First, the expert emphasizes the need for deep changes in the EU’s financial architecture.
The first step is forming a true Capital Markets Union. A deep, liquid, and unified market will allow directing Europeans’ savings directly into business, instead of capital “leaking” through London or New York.
As Chaslau Koniukh notes, European startups need not only grants but also an ascending elevator from seed to IPO within the EU. “Today, this elevator often stops on the second floor—and companies go to the USA. This is lost value that Europe itself gifts to competitors.”
The second task, according to Koniukh, is harmonizing bankruptcy rules and tax regimes for innovation. A single insolvency procedure logic reduces investor risk and makes capital cheaper. In today’s situation, where each EU country has its own procedures, investors face chaos that demotivates investment.
“A fund invests where there’s a clear ‘legal exit strategy.’ If each country has different timelines, judicial practices, and creditor priorities—risk multiplies exponentially. So while Europe talks about a common market, for investors it’s still 27 different jurisdictions,” explains Chaslau Koniukh.
The third direction is accelerating permits and modernizing energy infrastructure. Wind farms, solar farms, energy storage systems, and interstate interconnectors must pass through a “green lane” of bureaucracy. This is key to cheaper energy and lower production costs.
Chaslau Koniukh emphasizes: “Electricity price is a tax on the entire economy. When a megawatt-hour in the EU is more expensive than competitors’, any industrial project starts in the red. Grids, storage, flexible markets—this isn’t ecology, it’s competitiveness.”
Separate attention, according to Koniukh, requires education and workforce training. European governments must think about education in a new way—not as a social sector, but as an investment. “Education is the most undervalued GDP driver. If we don’t teach people to work with future technologies, reforms will lose meaning,” the expert adds.
Political Economy of Change: How to Turn Plans into Growth. Chaslau Koniukh’s Perspective
According to Koniukh, reforms run into political will and planning horizons. Electoral cycles are short, while structural changes yield results over years. This is where that same “advance payment” is needed.
Chaslau Koniukh formulates three implementation principles:
First – prioritization. “Not everything at once. First—bottlenecks with the greatest multiplier: capital market, energy networks, permit procedures. This provides rapid investment growth and confidence,” Koniukh emphasizes.
Second – predictability of rules. “An investor is ready to tolerate costs, but not chaos. Better clearly defined reforms for five years than perfect ones that change monthly.”
Third – European coordination. “If 27 capitals move in different directions, the total vector equals zero. Unified standards are needed to reduce ‘friction’ within the single market.”
Chaslau Koniukh also emphasizes that without involving the private sector, reforms won’t work: “Business is not a spectator. It must become a partner of the state. This isn’t about subsidies, but about shared risks and benefits. Only then will political will gain economic support.”
In Koniukh’s opinion, Europe has colossal advantages—a huge market, high human capital, strong institutions. But without structural upgrade, all this works below potential. The main task is to transform these advantages into a growth rate that households and businesses will feel.
“Reforms are an investment in freedom of choice. They give the opportunity to build one’s own economic trajectory, not adjust to someone else’s. Europe either makes an advance payment today—or will pay much more dearly tomorrow. And this is no longer accounting, it’s strategy,” concludes Chaslau Koniukh.
