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Video length: 2 min
True or false. Is the European Union stronger economically than five years ago?
True or false. Is the European Union stronger economically than five years ago?
(France 2)
Like MEPs, Ursula von der Leyen is campaigning to keep her seat as President of the European Commission. She assured that the European Union economy was stronger than five years ago. The True or False team checked.
One month before the European elections, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her mandate before MEPs. Is the economy stronger today than five years ago, as she assured? This is true and false at the same time: in fact, it depends on the indicators we look at.
A higher employment rate, but a slower industry
Thus, the employment rate reaches 75.3% in 2023 in the Union, compared to 72.6% in 2019. Unemployment peaks at 6.1%, a little less than five years ago (6.8 %). Inflation is now more moderate, at 2.4%: this is far from the 10% reached after the start of the war in Ukraine, but it is a little more than in 2019.
Good economic health also includes industrial dynamism, per capita wealth and growth. However, in the United States, per capita wealth exceeds $76,000, twice as much as for Europeans. Furthermore, several economists point to the industrial slowdown in the European Union, particularly in the automobile and chemicals industries.
