Germany

Approximately a quarter of a century after the fall of the Berlin wall, Germany is undoubtedly the “nerve centre†of the European Union (EU), both in terms of the evolution of its national economy, and in terms of economic policy, as it has become at the same time the most important European economic power and the “de facto†political leader at EU level. While in the years before the onset of the Eurozone crisis Germany maintained an accelerated economic growth, later on, against the background of the deterioration of the global economic climate and of the interconnection of aggregate perturbing factors (the considerable recession in the countries at the southern periphery of the Union, in iem:conjununction with the evident slowdown of the economic growth of emerging markets, as well as with the significant increase of uncertainty related to the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone), economic growth decreased below its traditional potential, marking a period of “stagnation†in the otherwise upward trend of German economy. As such, despite the external economic revival shown in 2013, although it continued to be the “economic engine and stability anchor†of the EU, Germany had a moderate growth, relying mainly on domestic demand, in contradiction with its classical development pattern oriented towards export. According to the latest estimates of EU experts, for the prognosis interval 2014/2015, the federal economy will be marked by a dynamic economic growth, primarily stimulated by the continued consolidation of domestic demand, the preservation of favorable financing conditions and the strengthening of exports.