ECONOMY : ECONOMIC CLIMATE MOST SOMBRE SINCE 1985.

The European Commission's services hope that the implementation of the European economic recovery plan will prevent large job losses and an excessive fall in growth. A spokesperson said, on 8 January, that the national plans already announced in the framework of this plan already represented 0.91% of the EU's GDP - "a good result" in comparison to the 1.2% objective set out in the European plan approved in December (see Europolitics 3658), all the more so since additional measures will be announced on 12 January in Germany, which would allow this target to be reached.

The spokesperson was reacting to the disappointing results of the monthly economic review published the same day by the Commission, as well as the latest Eurostat figures on GDP and unemployment (see separate articles). In December, the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) - based on the opinions of company directors and consumers - fell considerably in the EU and...