Europe B2C Ecommerce Report 2013

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THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) – A BRIEF OVERVIEW EUROPE B2C E-COMMERCE
The European Union – Economic Outlook
According to the recent 2012 Employment and Social
Developments in Europe Review, unemployment in
Europe is soaring, household incomes have declined and
the risk of poverty or exclusion is on the rise. These
conditions – exacerbated by five years of economic crisis
and the return of a recession in 2012 – were especially
prevalent in southern and eastern European Union
countries. Analysis shows how appropriate labour market
reforms and improvements in the design of welfare systems
can increase member states’ resilience to economic
shocks and facilitate a faster exit from the crisis.
According to Commissioner Andor, Europe probably
wouldn’t see much improvement in 2013 “unless it
achieves greater progress also on credibly resolving the
euro crisis, finding resources for much needed investment,
including in people’s skills, employability and social
inclusion and making finance work for the real economy.”
According to the most recent forecast, the EU Commission
expects economic activity to gradually accelerate.
The pick-up in growth will initially be driven by increasing
external demand. Domestic investment and consumption
are projected to recover later and by 2014, domestic
demand is expected to take over as the main driver of
strengthening GDP growth.
The weakness of economic activity towards the end
of 2012 has proved to be a low starting point for 2013.
Combined with a more gradual return of growth than
earlier expected, this leads to a projected low annual GDP
growth in 2013 of 0.1% in the EU and a contraction of
-0.3% in the euro area. Quarterly GDP developments are
somewhat more dynamic than the annual figures suggest,
and GDP in the fourth quarter of 2013 is forecast to be
1.0% above the level reached in the last quarter of 2012
in the EU, and 0.7% in the euro area.
While risks to the growth outlook are still predominantly
in a downward direction, the risk distribution has become
substantially more balanced. The effective implementation
of policies to reinforce the Economic and Monetary Union
and foster the necessary adjustments is critical in order to
keep the risk of another aggravation of the sovereign-debt
crisis at bay. Other downside risks relate to labour market
weakness feeding back into domestic demand and
slowing reform momentum as well as the still large
medium-term budgetary challenges in the US and Japan.
Upside risks to GDP growth could materialise if progress
with crisis resolution and structural reforms is faster and/
or the return of confidence stronger than expected.
Risks to the inflation outlook appear balanced. (EU Winter
Forecast 2012 – 2014, published on 22 February 2013).
The European Union – About the euro
As already mentioned above, in 1999, the European
Union took a large step towards a unified Europe.
11 countries formed an economic and political struc-
ture within the European states. Membership to the EU
became something to aspire to, as the organisation gave
0.1%
Projected growth
of GDP in
Europe in 2013
-0.3%
Projected growth
of GDP in € area
Europe in 2013
€