The Economist: joblessness the biggest challenge for Europe in 2014

The economy continues to be the biggest challenge faced by the European Union this strong, as the weak recovery from economic crisis has left a euro currency that is not too strong.

The EU's biggest challenges now lie in jobs crisis and the need to address serious growth. Pointing out that Malta was one of the few countries doing best in the eurozone, The Economist's Europe editor John Peet and consultant editor John Andrews said the eurozone's recovery was a fragile one and joblessness, particularly in southern countries, will be the biggest challenge for the new European Parliament.

But this was not the only challenge: the relationship between countries in the European Union and those outside but also between member states in the eurozone and member states who are not in the eurozone.

"Democratic confidence is another challenge, and not only in the UK. We will see how the European Parliament elections will fare, but strange parties will get in and EU projects will be up for questioning," Peet said.

The two argued that the eurozone needed deeper integration to survive, but the political will of the people was needed to achieve this goal.

"It will be a challenge for Brussels and the European Commission, especially from countries like France who argue against a Commission that interferes with matters like pensions and social policy," he said, insisting that securing legitimacy for a more integrated eurozone was a serious challenge.

As for the democratic confidence in the European institutions, the two doubted whether more than 1% of the EU's citizens knew who the MEPs were or who the new candidates are. They criticised the present European Parliament for failing to address the matter: in their words, the EP has been a disappointment.

"I don't think the EP has done enough to secure political democracy... I don't think the citizens know what the EP does or MEPs do. Democratic authority must be strengthened," Peet said.

With regard to foreign policy, the two editors said the European Union punched well below its weight. The EU, they said, needed to improve its performance in foreign policy.

"As Europe moves beyond the euro crisis, it has to start looking at its neighbourhood... not only Ukraine and Russia but North Africa and the Middle East as well. The EU must be a significant player and it must have more weight in foreign policy."

The two said that even in the Crimea crisis, the United States played a bigger role than the European Union.

According to the Economist editors, it would be right for Europe to take a tough line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that settling issues by force was completely inappropriate, in breach of international laws.