Luxembourg, 13/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Luxembourg for an informal session, the finance ministers of the twelve discussed the economic situation in the euro zone, where growth in the first quarter of 2005 was 0.5% (see other article above). Progress on the previous quarter (+0.2%), but still down on the annual forecasts, as the increase of GDP over a year, between the first quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005, was just 1.4%. Upon his arrival on Friday afternoon, the Luxembourg Prime Minister and President of Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker said that the difference in growth between the Member States was “a serious problem”. The good showing of the German economy over the first three months of the year (+1%) contrasted with the drop in growth for the second consecutive quarter for Italy (-0.5%). The performance of the Netherlands was also somewhat unconvincing, with a slight fall compared to the fourth quarter of 2004 (-0.1%), during which growth remained unchanged. The Dutch finance minister, Gerrit Zalm, said that he expected better figures for the euro zone in 2005: “For the rest of the year, we must have better data than the first quarter”, he said, before the debate.