Brussels
(Brussels) “The European economy is doing well. Thanks to the efforts made, the crisis is now behind us. The growth and employment rates have reached pre-crisis levels. All Member States in the euro area now manage budget deficits of less than 3% of GDP”, and the same results are expected for 2018 and 2019. “It is clear, however, that even in the face of external risks” such as protectionism, “this is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. We need policies and reforms to sustain growth”, starting with training and the digital sector. Pierre Moscovici, EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, was quite optimistic at the press conference in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. He presented the data, figures and tables of the Spring Economic Forecast, explaining that the growth rates for the EU28 and the euro area beat expectations. Both the EU and the euro area are forecast to grow by 2.3% in 2018. The analysis of the data by country, he said, shows that “growth in Germany is expected to continue in line with the EU average, sustained by domestic demand. France is also doing well, with exports rebounding sharply; Italy continues to grow, but only by 1.5%, lagging behind other European countries together with the United Kingdom. “The Netherlands and Spain are also performing well, despite a moderate slowdown”.
