Cernobbio (Como) – The EU economy is heading towards a “positive growth level” in 2025, confirming the forecast made a “couple of months ago” and being updated in mid-June. The EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni, reiterates the margins of optimism for the community bloc following the recessionary winds that are – still – hanging over Europe. “We have a year and a half of difficult crisis behind us which has led to a notable slowdown in economic activity, but I think two things can be said which also fuel a certain confidence” declared Gentiloni, speaking to reporters in the press point of workshop of think tank The European House Ambrosetti in Cernobbio (Como).
The good signs of the economy and the political “tensions”.
The first positive note “is that we have avoided recession, at least as a European Union as a whole” said Gentiloni. The second “is that the forecasts that the commission made a few weeks ago on the fact that in the second part of the year we might have an acceleration of economic activity – he added – And next year this acceleration might pick up speed forecasts seem confirmed” .
Among the push factors cited by the former Italian prime minister are the “very positive” employment situation, the “recovery of purchasing power that exists with the increase in wages and salaries” and the lack of a domino effect between wage rise and inflation. Gentiloni himself underlines, however, the various fronts of “tension” that hover over the most reassuring statistics from Brussels.
The Commissioner glosses over the fears of a re-election of Donald Trump in the USA, also expressed by the audience of entrepreneurs in Cernobbio, speaking of the “excellent relations” with that of Joe Biden. The fears of an escalation on a Middle Eastern scale are clearer, also in the face of the ever-increasing weight of the Mediterranean region in relations with the EU.
Roubini: radical right parties will not impose themselves
The other unknown in the air is the future of the community balance following the June vote and the accepted hypothesis of a rise of radical right forces in the Eurochamber. Prudence prevails among the speakers of the Forum, with the scenario of parties both growing in consensus and excluded from the configuration of the EU Commission. “There is a tendency to strengthen the right-wing parties but they will not be able to impose themselves and enter into coalition with the other forces” explained the economist Nouriel Roubini, answering a question from Il Sole 24 Ore in the press point with other reporters.
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2024-04-07 21:53:37
