
Fathom retains a pessimistic view of the euro area’s long-term prospects, unless progress is eventually made towards transforming the currency bloc into a fully-fledged fiscal union. There are, however, tentative signs of progress in this regard, with President Macron of France proposing a series of reforms to address some of the euro area’s structural flaws. In any case, Fathom acknowledges that the near-term outlook is far brighter, with the union’s strong cyclical upswing expected to continue this year. In few places are the short-term signs more encouraging than in Germany. On a calendar-adjusted basis, its economy grew by 2.5% in