(Brussels) “Today’s Economic Forecast predicts that the EU’s growth is getting stronger and unemployment keeps decreasing”: this is the first comment made by Valdis Dombrovskis, deputy president of the EU Commission, in charge of euro and social dialogue. According to the long document of the EU Executive, supported as usual by figures and tables, European economy “is by now in the fifth year of a recovery that is concerning all the member states and that is expected to go on at a mostly stead pace this year and the next year”. As to the euro-zone, the EU Commission says the GDP should grow by 1.7% in 2017 and by 1.8% in 2018 (in the Winter Forecast, it had been estimated at 1.6% and 1.8%, respectively). As to the EU as a whole, the GDP should grow at a steady pace of 1.9% in both years (in the Winter Forecast, it had been estimated at 1.8% for both 2017 and 2018). Dombrovskis adds: “However, the situation differs widely from one member state to the next, with the economies that have implemented more ambitious structural reforms performing better. To redress the balance, daring reforms are needed all over Europe, from opening the goods and services markets to modernising the employment markets and welfare systems. At a time of population and technological change, our economies must evolve too, providing our citizens with more opportunities and a better quality of life”.