Protectionism is bad for any country as its trade partners retaliate and it becomes a downward spiral from there on. While job protection is understandable in a downturn, EU (and US) should focus its energy on creating new jobs as opposed to raising trade barriers in order to protect current ones. EU should also come up with a joint effort to stimulate sectors of economy that habe the biggest potential of creating large no. of jobs. As for free trade, EU relies so heavily on the success of its member countries that it cannot violate any free trade agreements. In the long term, Free Trade will sustain the economy.
