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FT: Euro-phoria requires reforms that strengthen the eurozone

The European crisis is over. Five long years after the 2011 double-dip recession and Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes” pledge, the Eurozone recovery is finally real.

The euro area will grow at nearly 2 per cent in 2018, according to IMF forecasts and this time the periphery is joining the expansion.

More surprising than macroeconomic data has been the change in investor sentiment.

Just a year ago, euro sceptics were discussing how, not if, the Eurozone would break up. Today, investors are piling into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Greek debt. Rating agencies are distributing upgrades. Greek government bond yields have fallen from over 10 per cent in 2016, the same as Ecuador and Ghana at the time, to less than 4 per cent today.

Is this euro-phoria justified?