France and Italy boost Eurozone GDP, Germany growth slows
A return to expansion in France and Italy helped boost eurozone economic growth in the first three months of 2015 to its fastest pace in nearly two years, raising hopes that recovery is finally broadening in long-stagnant Europe.
However, a stumble in growth in Germany—the eurozone’s largest economy and the region’s engine of growth in recent quarters—highlighted the fragility of the recovery.
At the same time, policy makers are urging that France and Italy, the eurozone’s No. 2 and No. 3 economies, exploit the recovery to push harder on reforms. Indeed, the European Union criticized France, Italy and three other countries on Wednesday for a variety of economic failings, including rigid labor markets and lagging competitiveness, as part of annual recommendations to national authorities.
For the first time since the first half of 2010, all four of the eurozone’s largest economies recorded growth, while Spain, which released figures earlier, is leading the recovery with a 0.9% growth rate. And for the first time since the first quarter of 2011, the currency area’s economy grew more rapidly than both the U.S.’s and the U.K.’s.
