The European Commission has said the recession is ending in Europe.
In its autumn bulletin it said the European economy returned to growth in the third quarter of this year, but that recovery was still weak, held back by high unemployment and high levels of debt.
However, it said it did not expect growth to resume in Ireland until 2011.
On the technical measures used by economists, the recession is over in the EU.
This year the European economy will shrink by 4% - next year it should grow by 0.7%, and by 1.5% in 2011.
However, there are two big factors holding back recovery - unemployment and debt.
Unemployment, which is set to increase, although at a more modest level, will reach 10.25% next year for the EU, but 14% in Ireland.
In relation to debt, households and companies are paying back debt rather than spending on new things, and that reduces the amount of money in the economy.
Until consumers feel confident about spending again, growth will remain sluggish.
That is especially true of Ireland where the Commission says the recession continues to be driven by falling domestic demand, as unemployment, fear of unemployment and high debt levels from house prices mean people are spending less, helping to depress the economy further.
Ireland has been one of the hardest hit European economies, with the economy shrinking twice as much as the EU average, and the Commission says it will fall again next year, but will rebound to 2.6% growth the following year.
On a brighter note Irish exports have held up well, suffering the lowest decline of any Eurozone country.
But the Commission warns that an export-led recovery in Ireland will not yield as much tax for the Government as the domestic property driven economy of the past decade, so cuts to public spending are still on the cards.
Stats
The European Commission has said that Europe's economy will rebound next year from a deep slump and accelerate in 2011.
However, the EC also said that unemployment rate in the 16 eurozone nations will stand at 10.7% in 2010 and climb to 10.9% in 2011.
The European Union's executive arm forecast that the EU economy would expand by 0.7% in 2010 and 1.6% in 2011 after a contraction of 4.1% this year.
In the 16-country euro zone, growth would be 0.7% next year and 1.5% in 2011, after a 4.0% fall in 2009.
This is a strong upward revision from its forecast on May 4, when the Commission projected the euro zone to contract by 0.1% in 2010.
The European Central Bank also forecast on 3 September that euro zone growth would be between -4.4% and -3.8% this year and between -0.5% and +0.9% in 2010.
'The EU economy is coming out of recession. This owes much to the ambitious measures taken by governments, central banks and the EU that have not only prevented a systemic meltdown but have kick-started the recovery,' EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.
To make sure the recovery does not falter, Mr Almunia urged EU countries still to implement fully all announced support measures and complete the repair of the banking sector.
The recovery, however, is expected to be bumpy. The global economy will go through a soft patch in the first half of 2010 as temporary factors peter out, slowing euro zone quarterly growth to 0.1% in the first two quarters of next year, the Commission said.
