Person

Franziska Palmas

Senior Europe economist, Capital Economics

3 articles · 30 April 2025 to 19 September 2025

What we have reported

Warned that much of the new fiscal space funds higher pension and healthcare costs rather than growth-enhancing investment.
Forecasts the fiscal package will lift Germany out of six years of stagnation but warns the risk of a smaller or delayed boost has risen.
Warned that US tariffs introduced in April will hit activity and cause growth to slow sharply over the next six months.

Coverage

3 of 3 in the archive

Europe

Germany's fiscal pivot fails to deliver the growth Europe was promised

A €500bn fund and debt brake reform were supposed to revive the eurozone's largest economy. Economists now say the spending is too slow and too much goes to rising social costs rather than investment.

Marek Jankowski19 September 20257 min read

Politics

Merz survives shock first-round defeat to become German chancellor

Friedrich Merz won the chancellery on the second ballot after an unprecedented first-round failure, but the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition faces immediate tests on economic reform, defence spending and internal trust.

Sofia Marchetti7 May 20259 min read

Europe

Euro zone economy grows 0.4% in first quarter, beating forecasts

Flash Eurostat data shows stronger start to 2025 than surveys indicated, but US tariffs and weak sentiment cloud the outlook for the rest of the year.

Clara Devereux30 April 20256 min read

Others in the news

Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Friedrich Merz
Chancellor of Germany
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Emmanuel Macron
President of France
Christine Lagarde
President of the European Central Bank
Viktor Orbán
Prime Minister of Hungary
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
Kaja Kallas
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Mark Rutte
Secretary General of NATO
Péter Magyar
Prime Minister of Hungary
Henna Virkkunen
Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
Keir Starmer
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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What we have reported

Coverage

Others in the news

One important European story. Explained properly.