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The problem with consensus economic forecasts is that they generally prove to be wrong. As far as forecasting the European economy is concerned, the year ahead is likely to prove to be no exception. For rather than muddling along and beginning to recover as the consensus forecast would have us believe, it is more likely that the European economy will both sink ever deeper into recession and be beset by rising social and political tensions during the year. This makes it all too probable that, far from fading, the European crisis will intensify over the course of the coming year.