Jacob Rees-Mogg has branded the eurozone project an “utter failure” – amid growing fears over the single currency across the continent. Speaking on his LBC phone-in show, the leading Brexiteer said that the UK’s refusal to join the euro had been “an enormous advantage” to Britain. This comes amid fears that the European Union is heading towards a recession this year.
Mr Rees-Mogg told listeners: “The eurozone from 1997 to 2017 saw economic growth of 26% against 46% for the UK so not being in the eurozone has been an enormous advantage.
“It shows the more Europe the worse you are likely to do.”
The Brexiteer’s criticism of the EU’s single currency project comes amid mounting uncertainty in Europe over its economic future.
Doug Ramsey, chief investment officer at The Leuthold Group, told Bloomberg yesterday that the EU was on the brink of a recession.
This follows reports that European car sales declined for a fifth straight month in January.
On top of this, Italy has entered a technical recession while Spain faces a snap election.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Dean warned that the EU automobile-demand “has peaked” which has sparked panic in Brussels as well as the leading economies including Germany and France.
Echoing these fears, the head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde claimed the future of the entire EU project is at risk because of the deep, sustained crises in the southern eurozone economies.
She told a crowd at the Munich Security Conference on Friday: “Europe is once again facing a defining moment.”
On Thursday, Germany’s Federal Statistics Office revealed Europe’s largest economy at £3.1trillion narrowly escaped sliding into recession, with zero growth in the final three months of 2018.
This means Britain’s economy grew faster than Germany, France and Italy in the final quarter of last year.
Independent economist Julian Jessop told the Daily Telegraph: “The UK’s GDP growth has matched or beaten that in the eurozone in each of the last three quarters.”
“If the UK is indeed stuck in ‘the slow lane’, it’s hardly alone, and Germany and Italy appear to have pulled off the road completely.”