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Undeclared work has become a widespread phenomenon in the European Union.Today, the main reason given is the excessive taxation practised by numerous Member states. But the development of underground economy demonstrates also a loss of confidence in public authorities.Around one in ten Europeans said that they have bought goods or services involving undeclared work in the previous year.Not surprisingly in a climate of economic crisis, 60% of respondents indicate lower prices as the main reason for purchasing undeclared goods or services. Latvia, Estonia but also the Netherlands are amongst "the leaders" in this field.It is estimated that Europe's shadow economy employs up to 30 million people across the Union and that underground economic activity represents more than 20% of national income in countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy.Even in the UK the shadow economy constitutes about 10% of GDP.And despite this sensitive context, a number of European countries are planning to add illicit activities like drug and prostitution to the value of their GDP! Italy and the UK are among the nations looking to precisely quantify their black markets.According to the Institute of Economic Affairs the UK could add as much as USD 9 billion to the value of its GDP by including prostitution and USD 7 billion by adding illegal drugs.Italy should add smuggling to drug and prostitution in order to increase its GDP! It is clear that this new method of measuring the GDP will help numerous Member States to achieve their deficits within the EU's prescribed targets.But we are very skeptical about this kind of statistics in relation to the shadow economy and the criminal transactions.And in our view, this is also sending a wrong signal. That is like public authorities saying that prohibited activities are in fact not completely illegal! But we leave the conclusion to an expert: "GDP is not an indicator of morality!".

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