EU President Herman Van Rompuy said European Unnion leaders are to meet on January 30th to evaluate jobs and economic growth.
In a video message for the EU’s website, Rompuy said: “I’m preparing for this meeting intensively. It will be focused on jobs, and that’s a big challenge in a context where zero growth is expected in most of our economies. In some of them there will even be a recession.”
He added that “strong action on employment” is mandatory. “Bringing financial stability to the euro zone remains absolutely key for our future,” he said. He continued, stating that EU leaders “have taken major decisions this year to overcome the sovereign-debt crisis.”
Yesterday, Eurozone governments agreed to direct $196.2, or 150 billion euros, to the IMF as the European Central Bank added its strength to efforts supporting struggling sovereign bond markets. Britain was the only country to reject the International Monetary Fund solution.
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, claims the Eurozone needs “special attention” in order to avoid a widespread debt crisis and a global recession.
“Without action,” she said during a speech in Nigeria, “the world economy could be swept into a downward spiral of collapsing confidence, weaker growth and fewer jobs.”
