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G-7 Ministers Differ on European Economic Outlook
Finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7) nations gathered in Rome Saturday for a one-day meeting, when they expressed different opinions on the European economic outlook.
German Finance Minister Hans Eichel gave an upbeat view of Europe's economic growth prospects and dismissed all talks of a recession as "nonsense."
"There has been a growth slowdown in the euro zone but there is no reason to be pessimistic... Growth may be less strong but nonetheless, there is growth," Eichel told journalists.
He insisted that the euro zone was the "most robust" of the three great economic blocs -- the other two are the U.S. and Japan.
His views echoed those of French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius, who said Friday that figures show Europe is growing faster than the U.S..
Fabius bluntly put the blame on America for the globe's current economic troubles, saying that the U.S. slowdown along with the rise in oil prices were the prime cause of any problems.
The comments by Eichel and Fabius appeared to be in reaction to U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil's suggestion on Thursday that Europe needed to "play a locomotive role" in the world economy.
However, the ministers' views were also in sharp contrast with the gloomy outlook aired Saturday by British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
Brown said in an interview with the BBC that the global slowdown would probably be worse than expected and that it was beginning to be felt in Europe, particularly in Germany, and Japan.
The chancellor implied that the European Central Bank should follow the U.S. Federal Reserve's suit in cutting interest rates to spur the flagging economy.
Italy's Minister for the Economy, Giulio Tremonti, was of the opinion that the economic slowdown for the world's most industrialized countries had bottomed out but that it was still too early to predict a timetable for a recovery.
During Saturday's meeting, finance ministers of the G-7 nations, which groups U.S., Japan, Canada, Germany, Britain, France and Italy, drew up the agenda for an upcoming G-8 summit in Genoa to discuss issues ranging from world economic growth prospects to fiscal harmonization.
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