EU Commission: Economy in Germany continues to stagnate

Brussels – The EU Commission does not expect growth in the German economy in 2025. According to the spring economic forecast presented in Brussels, the authority anticipates an unchanged German gross domestic product (GDP) for the current year. In the previous estimate in November, it had predicted a slight growth of 0.7 percent. Only in 2026 is the gross domestic product in Germany expected to grow again by 1.1 percent, according to the authority.

The EU Commission justified its assessment with tariffs and increasing global uncertainty, which will dampen consumption, investment, and exports. Increased private spending and the multi-billion financial package for defense and infrastructure approved by the new German government have had a positive effect on expectations. A weaker development is only expected this year in the EU in Austria (minus 0.3 percent).

German government also expects no growth

With its estimate, the EU Commission comes to the same conclusion as the federal government, which expects stagnation in German economic performance in 2025. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also does not expect any growth for Germany in the current year.

In the entire EU, the Commission expects a growth of 1.1 percent for the current year. In the euro area, it anticipates an increase in gross domestic product of 0.9 percent. Both forecasts have been slightly lowered by the authority compared to its November forecast by 0.4 percentage points. (May 19)