"Sick man of Europe" - virtually every European country has deserved that dismal label at some stage, whether France and Italy recently, smaller countries at the periphery during the euro crisis, or Germany in the 1990s. The sheer number of countries and the often-overlapping periods when those countries held that title suggest that the continent of Europe, indeed, could have collectively earned the label of "sick man of the world" over the past 25 years. This, of course, while enjoying higher standards of living and longer life expectancies than any other continent. The unpopular title may soon be one for the history books, however. After annual growth of around 1.5% between 2013 and 2016, the economies of the European countries sharing the euro gained pace at the end of last year and have expanded by an annualised rate of 2% since then. Tough love bears handsome fruit Over the past four years, five million jobs have been created, with the total number of people employed surpassing...
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