Why the eurozone recovery needs German intervention

Berlin should adopt policies that boost Germany's domestic spending and reduce its large surplus, otherwise upturn in single currency bloc may not be able to weather the wealth of threats it faces both inside and outside Europe

The latest economic data from the eurozone suggest that recovery may be at hand. What is driving the upturn? What obstacles does it face? And what can be done to sustain it?

The immediate causes of recovery are not difficult to discern. Last year, the eurozone was on the verge of a double-dip recession. When it recently fell into technical deflation, the European Central Bank finally pulled the trigger on aggressive easing and launched a combination of quantitative easing (including sovereign-bond purchases) and negative policy rates.