BRUSSELS, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes suggested Wednesday that better-than-expected U.S. growth figures may be an indicator that the economic situation in the euro zone is better than has been estimated.
"It's better, it's positive and anything that's positive in the U.S. is good for us", he said. "The situation is probably better than that which we are considering today."
In recent weeks, Solbes has predicted that euro zone growth would be "around 1.5 percent" and at the same level in 2002. The European commission, the European Union executive, is due to release its forecasts on Nov. 21.
Solbes cautioned that it is still probably "excessively early" to really get a clear idea of the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks on economic growth.
