VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers said on Tuesday he was confident the bloc's economic growth was not sputtering out, and urged countries not to let up on fiscal reform efforts.
"I'm not concerned about the slackening of European economies. There has been a slight setback in a number of countries in the first quarter but I'm also seeing a pickup of the industrial investments in different countries so I'm sure the second quarter will show growth all over Europe again," Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters during a visit to Vienna.
"My only concern is that the outcome of this (European Parliament) election will lead in some countries to a sense of doing less rather than doing more. Doing less in the sense (of) let's not be so ambitious in terms of budgetary targets, let's not be so ambitious in terms of reforms, and I think that will be a big mistake," he said.
Economic growth of just 0.2 percent in the first quarter was only half of market expectations for the period.
(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Andrew Roche)