Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi heads into an EU summit today amid new data showing that Europe may be able to avoid a severe downturn in the economy.
Addressing a pre-summit press conference yesterday, a confident sounding Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, indicated that Europe may be turning the page although he warned against over optimism.
“While our forecasts show mild recession for this year, our latest data point to the return of growth in the second half of this year,” he said.
“New figures released this week also show a rise in economic and business sentiment for the second month in a row. It seems that industry has started to believe and we think that it is time to build on this confidence.”
President Barroso’s optimistic remarks coincided with an announcement in the US that the world’s biggest economy registered significant growth of three per cent in GDP during the last quarter of 2011 – much better than predicted. The two-day summit will focus on growth and jobs, with the 27 leaders expected to agree on a number of new growth initiatives, particularly in the transport, energy and ICT sectors.
The EU has already earmarked millions of euro aimed at financing important infrastructural projects in the three sectors.
Malta is mainly interested in energy as it is seeking co-funding for a possible gas link with the European grid through a pipeline with Sicily.
During the summit, EU leaders are also expected to formally initialise the Fiscal Pact reached a few weeks ago during an extraordinary summit.
Under the pack, EU member states except for the UK and the Czech Republic will be committing themselves to a series of new fiscal rules, including the introduction of constitutional obligations to balance their budgets, lower their debts every year and make sure to reduce their deficits by 0.5 per cent of GDP annually.
A meeting of the Eurogroup – the Eurozone’s Finance Ministers – will also be held today in order to discuss the latest developments with regard to the second Greek bailout.