Eurozone Recovers in Spite of Itself

The eurozone's two largest economies grew at a respectable pace in the second quarter: an annualised rate of 2.8 per cent in Germany; a surprisingly good 2 per cent for France. This puts an end to six quarters of contraction in the single-currency area. A patchwork of problems remains to be tackled but the eurozone’s return even to modest growth – 1.2 per cent annualised – is cause for relief.