Brussels, 22/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Joaquin Almunia told members of the Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday, at their informal meeting, that growth was on its way back. “Growth is coming back; we are starting a real recovery”, the Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs said, adding that “the main risk to this is high oil and gas prices, but we are clearly going in the right direction”. The protectionist upsurge from Member States could be an additional threat to economic recovery, Mr Almunia noted, saying that “without a powerful internal market, we cannot increase our potential growth. All the EU institutions must react immediately to avoid these protectionist trends” (see related article on European Council).