Structural improvements have played an important role in the adjustment of current account imbalances and, in fact, cyclical factors are estimated to account for less than half of the adjustment observed so far.10 Export growth has also been the engine of the positive GDP growth rates since the second quarter of 2013 in some crisis countries.
With the return to positive growth rates last year, the upward trend in the unemployment rate came to an end in most euro area countries. In  8  EMU@10, (2008), “Successes and challenges after ten years of Economic and Monetary Union”. European Economy, Nr. 2/2008.