CNBC: Energy is Europe's ‘big disadvantage’: Deutsche co-CEO
High energy prices and resistance to fracking are two key reasons why Europe's economic recovery has lagged the U.S., the joint head of Germany's largest bank by assets told CNBC.
Jürgen Fitschen, co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, said bureaucracy, education and productivity partially explained Europe's difficulties, but laid much of the blame on the cost of energy in the region.
"It is undeniable that Europe overall faces one very big disadvantage: that is cost of energy," Fitschen, who is also head of the German Bankers Association, told CNBC in Frankfurt on Monday.
"That (low energy prices) has been one of the factors that have stimulated the euphoria and the growth momentum in the States. That is something that cannot be replicated easily in Europe."