ECB’s de Guindos: Eurozone Growth Likely to Stay Moderate in the Coming Years

4 December 2025

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday that economic growth in the euro area had been subdued and was expected to remain moderate in coming years.

Speaking at the Cinco Días Business Innovation Awards ceremony in Madrid, de Guindos noted that “the model of globalization is expected to change significantly, and we may be moving toward greater fragmentation of the world economy.”

The widening GDP gap between the US and Europe, he said, reflects Europe’s pronounced slowdown in productivity growth.

“Growth in the euro area has been weak and is expected to remain moderate in the coming years,” he added.

According to de Guindos, the ECB’s latest projections foresee euro area growth slightly above 1% in 2025, a rate he described as within the range of “potential growth.”

He emphasized, however, that safeguarding Europe’s core values would require strengthening long-term economic resilience and growth.

De Guindos also warned that Europe faced increasingly strong competition from emerging rivals such as China, whose key export sectors overlap with Europe’s and have gained substantial competitiveness.

“For example, this year domestic industrial prices in China have fallen by nearly 5%, and at the same time the yuan has depreciated by about 10%, in line with the evolution of the dollar,” he said.