Most countries of the European Union have been hit by the worldwide recession. The economy in the Eurozone will contract by 2.0 percent this year. This is the conclusion of the latest report of the international group of economists - - the European Economic Advisory Group (EEAG)  - -of which the President of the German Ifo Institute for Economic Reseach, Prof Hans-Werner Sinn is also a member. Although GDP in the Eurozone will expand again in 2010 at a slow pace of 0.2 percent, unemployment will continue to rise. In contrast to past downturns, the contraction in one country will not be offset by growth in another, since the whole Western world has been hit by the recession.