Europe’s economies will diverge in new ways

By Christian Odendahl

For the past decade or so, economic fortune favoured Europe’s north. The Scandinavian countries, plus Germany, Poland and even Britain, all boasted decent growth and employment. The south, by contrast, was hit first by the euro crisis in 2010-12 and the subsequent painful adjustment, and then by the pandemic, which hurt its tourism-heavy economies more than most. As Europe faces new challenges such as climate change and geopolitical upheaval, its countries’ economic fortunes are diverging in new ways that will start to become visible in 2024.