2009年，欧洲经济处于深度衰退之中，欧盟国内生产总值增长率降至-4.2%，几乎所有成员国都是负增长。2010年缓慢复苏，第二季度在德国强劲增长的带动下开始加速，预计欧盟全年经济增长率将达到1.8%。2011年欧洲的经济增长形势可能与2010年持平或者略弱。危机中大规模的财政刺激政策使得欧盟国家的财政状况普遍恶化，为了扭转政府债务不断增加的局面，欧盟理事会确定了财政退出战略的原则和针对不同国家的相应政策，欧盟各国已经在《稳定与增长公约》的结构中执行财政巩固政策。
In the year of 2009 the European economy endured a deep recession，with a 4.2% slump of the GDP of the EU as a whole，and a negative growth for almost all the member states. It started to recover slowly at the beginning of 2010，with accelerated growth at the second quarter，spurred first and foremost by the robust dynamics of German economy. It is estimated that the EU economy as a whole will grow at a rate of around 1.8% in the year 2010 and that it will remain the same as or slightly lower than that of 2010 in 2011. The large-scale financial stimulus policies carried out during the crisis has deteriorated the financial situation of the EU countries and in order to put an end to the continuous going up of governments’ debts，the Council established a fiscal exit strategy and formulated policies specific to each member state，who has correspondingly begun to implement the fiscal consolidation policy within the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact.
