Euro chief urges calm amid US troubles - Economic situation in Europe uncoupled from the situation in the US - by Aoife White
Euro nations see no immediate need to react to the growing threat of a U.S. slowdown that sent stock markets plunging Monday, the head of the group of 15 euro finance ministers said after they met for talks. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the economic situation in Europe was "clearly different from, better than" the that of the U.S. and did not require something similar to President Bush's multibillion-dollar program to stimulate the economy. "We should not overreact to events on the stock exchanges today, we need to look at the next few days at what is rational about this and what is irrational, what is part of a process of correction and what is people overreacting," he said.Juncker insisted the glass was half-full, saying that in spite of rising energy costs and rocketing inflation "it would be a mistake to fall victim to excessive pessimism." Although euro area growth would likely be less than the EU executive forecast in November, the "fundamentals are sound," jobless rates are still falling, and inflation should drop back by the end of the year, he said. "We feel comfortable with the current economic situation," Juncker told reporters. "Consumers in Europe have no reason to lose confidence, the economic situation in Europe seems to be uncoupled from the situation in the U.S."
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