The Dynamic Duo; The EU today is in stronger economic shape than ever before. Just don't tell the Europeans.

Byline: Denis MacShane

Want to know Europe's dirty little secret? You won't hear it from the locals grousing as the EU goes into talks on a new constitution. But the truth is that the Union is working. More jobs have been created in the euro zone--13.1 million of them since 2000--than in the United States during the same period. Add in those economies that still use their own currencies, such as Britain's and the Nordic states', and the picture looks even better. Gone are the high unemployment rates that, just recently, seemed a permanent fixture of the landscape.

In the east, the EU's newer members are purring like tigers. Poland's current growth rate is as good as India's, and the Czech economy is growing faster than Taiwan's or Malaysia's. Even China, supposedly the world's export king, is being outpaced by Germany, which sells more of its goods and services abroad. Little Belgium now exports more than mighty South Korea. And the euro zone is running a trade surplus--unlike the United States, with its colossal $830 billion deficit.

Then there's the euro itself, the currency that wiseacres in London called "Mickey Mouse money" when it was introduced in 2000. Today there are more euros in circulation than dollars, and the currency's strength has helped Europe ride out hikes in oil and commodities prices. And the interest rates set by the European Central Bank are lower than those dictated by the Fed or the Bank of England, meaning there's more juice flowing in the European economy.

Yes, there are problems: Transparency International rightly complains about high corruption in the new EU member states. But once upon a time, Italy, Spain and Greece faced--and overcame--similar troubles. And the warnings haven't stopped middle-class Europeans from buying cheap vacation homes in sunny countries like Bulgaria.

For their part, the new members are sending inexpensive, skilled and hardworking labor west. Ten thousand pickers from Lithuania have helped Ireland's mushroom industry boom. Small British firms that once thought they'd have to outsource to Asia are now using low-cost eastern workers--legal migrants all--to expand at home.

Even the much-maligned European Commission has started powering ahead on trade liberalization, opening up air traffic with the United States and ordering banks to reduce charges on cross-border transactions. And the European Parliament, which used to move at a snail's pace, has acted quickly to stop mobile-phone users from being ripped off when they make calls across frontiers.