Europe's economy is stuck in stagnation, and a rising number of Member States are already having to deal with deflation.
Since the outbreak of the financial and economic crisis the European Union has failed to ignite a new economic dynamic. Implosion was avoided, thanks large transfers and implicit subsidies provided to the private financial sector by the public sector. Such unprecedented transfers have been keeping the economy from falling into a deep economic depression. Those few countries less affected by the crisis often benefited from effects of the downturn elsewhere, e.g. by extraordinarily low interest cost for state debt.