But the wage restraint that was necessary to improve price competitiveness together with the ongoing efforts to consolidate public finances have dampened growth and price pressures in the euro area. This is one of the reasons why the recovery after the financial crisis took somewhat longer in the euro area than in other advanced economies, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
But for some time now, the recovery in the euro area has become increasingly robust and broadbased. Real GDP has been growing now for 16 quarters. And what is probably equally important, almost all countries are sharing in the recovery. There has recently been an improvement in growth in France, Italy and Spain, for example.