European leaders declaring they've gained the upper hand in the three-year-old debt crisis are sharpening efforts to channel a rebound in financial markets to an economic recovery to chip away at soaring unemployment.
Even as euro area chiefs call for more time to lock in a bailout package for Cyprus and elections loom next month in Italy, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said January 11 that the single currency is “over the worst of the crisis". Draghi’s six-month-old pledge to do whatever it takes to deliver the 17-member currency out of the crisis has been credited for declining yields and an easing in market turmoil. That’s given leaders more room to grapple with issues such as unemployment in Europe, which climbed to a record 11.8 per cent in November, with every other Spanish youth out of work.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads euro finance ministers, also signalled the improved mood, saying “the worst is probably over, but what we still have to do is difficult". Those challenges include a persistently high jobless level that’s a testament to the depth of the debt crisis. In addition to soaring unemployment in Spain and other bailout countries, French President François Hollande is struggling to reverse a 19-month-long rise in jobless claims and jump start an economy that has barely grown in more than a year.
Full article
© Bloomberg
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article