The European Commission said today that its Consumer Confidence Indicator fell in in May; the overall Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) slipped, moving back to 100.0 (-1.9 points) in the EU and to 98.4 (-2.2 points) in the Eurozone. While Industry sentiment continued to improve, all other sectoral sentiment indicators dropped in the EU and the Eurozone. The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the Eurozone improved marginally. The results reflects a month dominated by the debt crisis in Greece.

The European Commission said it should be noted that the latest developments in the ESI are influenced by the change of classification of economic activities that was implemented for the business surveys in May, leading to a break in the series.Internal checks, however, indicate that the changeover has affected the level, making interpretation more difficult. This level shift did not, on the whole, affect the direction of the change, but only its magnitude.

The Consumer Confidence Indicator, which is not subject to the changeover, declined markedly among EU and Eurozone consumers (both down by 3 points). Consumers were worried about the general economic outlook, although their assessment of the labour market continued to improve. The sharpest drops were reported in Southern Europe and the UK. Confidence declined among German and French consumers as well, while Dutch consumers were more optimistic.

Confidence in financial services - - not included in the ESI and unaffected by the changeover – deteriorated by 1 point in the EU and by 4 points in the Eurozone. In both areas, managers were particularly worried about the business situation. While their assessment of past evolution of demand improved, they where pessimistic about the future.

In May, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the Eurozone improved marginally. The current level of the indicator suggests that economic activity in industry will continue to recover in the coming months, although it has still some way to go to reach its pre-crisis height.

The European Commission says the results are influenced by the change of classification of economic activities that has been implemented for the business surveys in May. Internal checks indicate that the changeover has affected the level, making interpretation more difficult. This level shift did not, on the whole, affect the direction of the change, but its magnitude.