Fondation EurActiv Politech, in partnership with EurActiv Germany and Allianz, hosted a panel discussion of senior economists from both the private and public sectors yesterday. The talk underscored major challenges and uncertainties for the eurozone economy in the years ahead.

Christophe Leclercq, Founder and Publisher of EurActiv, said the discussion "highlighted two points which I find especially important: one is about balanced growth and the other one about the early warning system regarding macro-economic imbalances."

Chief Economist at Allianz Michael Heise presented findings from Allianz's yearly Euro Monitor report on the state of the eurozone economies. He said it includes economic indicators that can go beyond those cited by public authorities which are bound by "political restrictions" and that the Allianz indicators had improved for many countries in 2011. "These macroeconomic imbalances were at the heart of the crisis that has taken place in the eurozone. We tended to overlook these quite dangerous imbalances in the last decade, focusing mainly on the fiscal issues," Heise said.

Guntram Wolff, Deputy Director of the economic think-tank Bruegel,warned that economic rebalancing of the eurozone is taking place too slowly and it is unclear if the current stabilising action of the European Central Bank will prove sustainable. "Banks have become completely addicted to ECB liquidity and in three years’ time we will have the same discussions again because the underlying fundamentals move very slowly," he said.

The full Allianz Euro Monitor 2011 report is now available online. It includes a Euro Monitor Ranking that evaluates the extent to which each of the 17 eurozone countries is achieving balanced macroeconomic growth and thus contributing to the stability of the euro area.

The panel discussion was sponsored by Allianz, a global insurance and financial services company headquartered in Germany. Detailed coverage of the event is available on EurActiv.com. A full list of EurActiv’s Workshops can be found here.

Media contacts:

Ewald König, Editor-in-Chief, EurActiv.de +49.30.2060.5150, e.koenig@euractiv.de

PerttiHermannek, Publisher, EurActiv.de +49.30.2088.9003, p.hermannek@euractiv.de

Dominique Ostyn, Senior Manager Communication & New Media +32(0)2.788.36.88, communication@euractiv.com

Christophe Leclercq, Founder & Publisher, EurActiv.com;Co-founder of Initiative.eu & Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

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