EUROPEAN PROTECTIONISM IS A BAD IDEA!

The EU's room for manoeuvre is very small. Indeed 65% of EU imports take place inside the EU and about 5% with countries linked by commercial treaties. If you take out oil imports, only 20% remains out of which about 10% from low wage countries. In the 10% the largest part concerns goods that are not produced or not  produced anymore in Europe or goods that are integrated in European productions. Protectionism would therefore not protect any revenue and would have as a direct consequence the reduction of the competitiveness of export industries. At the end, far  from protecting revenues, European protectionism would reduce revenues, bring a  lowering of purchasing power of consumers, loss of revenues in export sectors and low earnings in the import sector.

In the current situation, protectionism would only serve to make the crisis even worse even without retaliation on the part of EU partners. It's not protectionism that can resolve the current situation but rather a greater coordination of the macro-economic policies in the EU.