Yes, isnt the EU doing well.....
Greece youth unrmployment only around 50%
Spanish youth unemployment 40%, overall unemployment 16%
Italy unemployment 11%
In April, several leading Spanish economists sent a vitriolic letter to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the eurozone’s group of finance ministers, accusing the EU and Spanish politicians of ‘scandalous manipulation’ of GDP figures and blaming them for generating ‘a gigantic bubble of debt …
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/07/spains-lost-generation/
Spain also has other current troubles, with its wealthiest region wanting independence......
Italy.......Stagnant economy for 20 years since it joined the Euro
https://www.ft.com/content/11e0d4b2-c056-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a
Politics..... Austria hard right party in power
Germany......still no government formed.
The article you refer to makes a point about how strong the EU economy must be because of an 8 year high Euro v Sterling......means nothing the pound has dropped due to current Brexit uncertainty, it is not an indicator of EU economic strength.