The growth spurt in the three countries, however, is partly catching up after the steep falls in GDP during the financial crisis. Greece's GDP for example plunged 25 percent.
Economists warn they still face challenges.
While they have all seen joblessness fall, the unemployment rate in Greece and Spain sits above 11 percent, way above the EU average of 5.9 percent.
And former European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn told AFP that "deficits and debt levels remain large in some cases" even though "divergences between euro area countries have decreased compared to 10 years ago".
Portugal swung to a budget surplus of 1.2 percent of GDP last year while Greece's public deficit declined to 1.6 percent in 2023 from 2.5 percent in the previous year. The EU average is 3.5 percent.
This has helped its 10-year borrowing rate to drop to 3.5 percent from 13 percent during the financial crisis.
Darvas said the "convergence" of southerrn European nations with northern ones "is likely to continue" but at a "slower pace". Spain, Portugal and Greece still have "work to do," he added.
Source: AFP
