The EU emerged from recession in the third quarter of 2009 but growth remains anaemic ( 0.3%, EU27) and well below trend rates. Unemployment notably continues to rise and its pace of increase has accelerated in the most recent quarter to reach the highest levels in over a decade (9.5%, EU27)....

Though no longer in recession, the EU economy remains fragile, with growth well below trend rates. Unemployment continues to rise, though at a slowing pace (it stood at 9.6% in the EU27 in February 2010). The first issue for 2010 includes: current macroeconomic trends and prospects; an overview...

Europe continues to show signs of a tentative recovery with marginally positive growth and other economic indicators stabilising. There are however persistent concerns over levels of public debt and, to a lesser extent, over the stability of the euro. The second issue for 2010 includes: current...

The pace of recovery following the 2008–9 economic crisis has picked up somewhat throughout 2010 with the EU forecast to register 1.7% growth in 2010. Uncertainty however persists on a number of fronts. Fears of a double dip recession in the US economy have been reinforced by recent weak...

Nearly two years after the technical end of the ‘Great Recession’, there are increasingly divergent patterns of recovery across the EU. Member States in the German – central Europe – Baltic axis are enjoying strong growth and improving labour markets while the debt-laden ‘periphery’...

The EU economy continued to grow over the last quarter with more positive data in particular from core economies.Problems of sovereign debt management however persist in several eurozone Member States and negative economic news from other developed economies has tended to more than mitigate any...

The economic situation continues to be dominated by sovereign debt problems in the eurozone countries. As these continue to remain unresolved, general sentiment has turned negative amid fears of a new second phase of the Great Recession of 2008–9. The third issue for 2011 includes: summary;...

Consensus forecasts point to slowing growth in the EU during 2012, with some at least indicating a return to recession. Sovereign debt issues in a growing number of Member States – the response to them and anxieties regarding their eventual resolution – are one important contributing factor....

Significant ECB interventions in December 2011 and February 2012 have helped to stabilise, at least in the short-term, Eurozone sovereign debt concerns. A fresh focus on the essentials of economic activity reveals a weakening EU economy with an increasing likelihood that the Union is already in...

With GDP growth stagnating, the unemployment rate continuing its upward trend, and unresolved sovereign debt issues in many Member States, it is not easy to be optimistic about the prospects for EU labour markets. The best news tends to be of the ‘it could be worse’ variety. The second issue...