[ponzored]

A few factors:

1. There is no common language so hiring is typically restricted to one country.

2. Taxes are very high, particularly social security taxes that must be paid by the employer. Firms are very reluctant to create jobs.

3. A lot of bureaucracies are old and inefficient.

4. For the same reasons, products are difficult to scale. You can go from a local product in San Francisco to a national product in the USA relatively easily. But in the EU you are dealing with multiple languages, cultures, country bureaucracies in order to make the same jump.

The best thing for the EU would be to get everyone speaking English at least as a second language. Then, to require all official forms, Government engagement etc. to be in the national language and English.

Imagine you go from working in Warsaw to Berlin. A distance of only 570km, but you need to be able to speak Polish to deal with Polish bureaucracy, English to work at the multinational firm, and German to deal with German bureaucracy.