BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The latest economic data suggest the euro zone’s recovery from its longest recession in history is within reach, but it would be premature to say the crisis is over, the EU’s top economic official said on Wednesday.
The euro zone’s largest economies, Germany and France, showed stronger than expected growth in the second quarter, helping the bloc post a first rise in seven quarters with slightly stronger than anticipated 0.3 percent growth on the quarter.
“For next year, our projections show the recovery should be on a more solid footing, as long as we can continue to avoid new political crises and detrimental market turbulence,” EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Rehn said the growth figures remained low and the tentative signs of growth were still fragile given uneven recovery in some euro member countries, such as Spain or Greece, whose unemployment rates remained “unacceptably high”.
(Reporting by Martin Santa; Editing by Adrian Croft)
Source: Reuters
