An economic meeting Tuesday between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy couldn’t come at a better time: New data show Europe’s economy grew slower than expected during the second quarter, with the German economy—so far, the best-performing in the Western world—grinding to a halt. The German GDP grew by only 0.1 percent between April and June, while the French economy did not grow at all. The average growth for the 17 euro-zone nations was 0.2 percent, behind expectations of 0.3 percent growth. Despite the slowdown, many Europeans are looking to Germany to solve the debt crisis.
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