European policymakers on Tuesday blamed the turmoil in global equity markets on US economic and fiscal policy and said Europe’s economy was resilient enough to emerge without great damage.

“The main reason [for the turbulence] is the risk of a recession in the US,” said Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s monetary affairs commissioner. “It’s not about a global recession. It’s about a recession in the US, because big imbalances have built up over the years in the US economy – a big current account deficit, a big fiscal deficit and a lack of savings.”