EU commissioner: The recovery is in reach but the crisis is not over
European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs and vice president of the European Commission Olli Rehn has said that “recovery is in reach” for the Eurozone after gross domestic product (GDP) data showed that the region officially exited the recession in the second quarter of the year.
Rehn said the good news added to recent positive indicators of economic sentiment, industrial orders and output, and showed that the EU’s response to the crisis and its mechanisms are working.
The data also supports, in my view, the fundamentals of our crisis response: a policy mix where building a stability culture and pursuing structural reforms supportive of growth and jobs go hand in hand….
And there is no doubt that the decisive policy action of the European Central Bank has had a decisive impact by supporting the short-term stabilisation of financial and bond markets.
But he adds that there is no room for complacency.
I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting “the crisis is over”. For we all know that there are still substantial obstacles to overcome….
I call on European policy-makers, as well as social partners and business leaders, academics and commentators, to seize this opportunity. A sustained recovery is now within reach, but only if we persevere on all fronts of our crisis response: keep up the pace of economic reform, regain control over our mountain of debt, both public and private, and build the pillars of a genuine economic and monetary union with no loopholes where irresponsible bankers or short-sighted policy makers can thrive.
So let’s all keep in mind Whymper’s wise words: we should look to the next steps in this steep ascent which is still ahead of us, in order to fully exit the crisis, and not lose sight of our goal. It is within reach, if we stay the course