Recently, news from the European Commission indicated that after a projected contraction of 0.4% and zero growth for the Eurozone and the EU respectively this year, both are expected to achieve growth of 1.1% and 1.4% in 2014. In other words, the economies of the Eurozone and the EU will return to positive growth next year. This is undoubtedly a major piece of positive news for the highly popular European real estate immigration programs of 2013.
Olli Rehn, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs, stated: "There are increasing signs that the European economy has reached a turning point." Many European countries are opening their doors to attract foreign investment to stimulate their respective economic recoveries. Surveys show that since the beginning of this year, as the crisis has eased, signs of recovery have begun to emerge. Data from Eurostat shows that in the second quarter of this year, the Eurozone economy grew by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, marking the first growth since the fourth quarter of 2011, while the EU economy also grew by 0.3% during the same period.
In recent years, European countries have carried out large-scale structural reforms and fiscal consolidation. The report attributes the momentum of European economic recovery to this ongoing "internal and external adjustment," stating that it has created better conditions for "making domestic demand the main engine of European economic growth." The European Commission's report also suggests that the growth prospects of global emerging economies are not as strong as before, which implies that the return of the European economy to robust growth will be a gradual process.