According to the report from the Sentix, the overall economic index for Euroland falls by -1.5 points in February to an index level of -0.2 points. The lockdowns in many European countries are leaving their mark. For Euroland, the assessment of the current situation falls by 1.0 points, while the expectations component drops by 2.0 points. A similar trend can be observed for the assessment of the German economy. In the international context, the euro zone is thus lagging well behind the global growth trend. Most recently, the recovery relied heavily on a successful vaccination campaign. The EU order debacle and the resulting slower pace of vaccination are weighing on the mind and exposing the bureaucratic deficits in Euroland. As a result, the EU economy is losing touch with the other regions of the world, which are continuing their recovery course in the month of February.

Economic expectations for the euro zone have been strongly advanced for many months. It is therefore important that the development of the real economy (assessment of the current situation) does not disappoint these hopes and delivers them in the foreseeable future. The "time" factor is thus crucial and cannot be stretched at will. A permanent prolongation of the lockdown could become a problem because the difference between expectation and the current situation (the so-called expectation gap) is extremely high! There is a potential for a temporary disillusionment here. Fatal would be in any case a repeated demolition of the expectation component. The consequence would be a renewed recession.