From 2007 through 2010 or so, the European economy basically went through the same trajectory as the US.

There was a violent downturn during the financial crisis, and then an upturn.

But thanks to the European sovereign debt crisis, the upturn was cut short.

2011 and 2012 were devoted to solving the acute issue of European sovereign debt crisis, an issue that for now has largely gone away, via the ECB's promise of backstopping governments, so long as they agreed to austerity measures.