ABSTRACT
Europe’s overall economic performance experienced a significant weakening, after years of exceptional growth by European standards. The GDP of the European Union grew by 1.6% in 2001, a reduction of nearly 2% compared with that of 2000, when the highest growth rates of the last fifteen years were recorded. Economic growth gradually slowed down in 2002 and, more or less, stagnated in the first half of 2003. Most of the world’s other main economies also experienced a slowdown and some of them even showed negative growth rates (for instance, real GDP actually declined). The US economy, after years of vigorous growth well ahead of the figures registered in the European Union, encountered nearstagnation in 2001. Japan, which had hardly recovered from the previous weak years, reported economic growth very close to zero.
