BRUSSELS — Jacob J. Lew, the United States Treasury secretary, urged European officials to adopt more growth-friendly policies on Monday. But there was little indication that the recession-plagued European Union was moving away from the austerity path it has pursued to deal with the debts and imbalances that emerged in the financial crisis of 2008-9.

At the outset of a joint news conference with Mr. Lew, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, emphasized the difficult climate that both economies faced.

“We continue to rebalance and rebuild our economic potential to ensure strong, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs going forward,” Mr. Van Rompuy said. “It is a long and difficult process, but one we stick to with determination on both sides of the Atlantic.”

But despite Mr. Van Rompuy’s reassuring words, it was clear that deep divisions remain between the American and European approaches to the crisis, which have contributed to the divergent paths the economies of Europe and the United States have followed in its wake.

“Our economic recovery is gathering strength,” Mr. Lew said. “The U.S. economy has expanded for 14 consecutive quarters, and although the pace of job creation is not as fast as we would like, the private sector has added jobs for 37 straight months.”

In contrast, the euro zone continues to struggle with shrinking economies and rising unemployment, with Germany, France and Spain all contracting in the fourth quarter of 2012. That has made meeting Europe’s goals of reducing fiscal deficits even harder.

The question that Mr. Lew came to Europe to raise is how to strengthen the European economy — for the Continent’s sake, as well as for the global economy’s. The United States has an investment in Europe’s growth, American officials have said repeatedly, because of the deep financial and trade ties between the countries.

“We have an immense stake in Europe’s health and stability,” Mr. Lew said. “I was particularly interested in our European partners’ plans to strengthen sources of demand at a time of rising unemployment.”

The Obama administration has urged countries with stronger economies, like Germany, to slow their pace of fiscal retrenchment and ease off on demands for tougher cutbacks in hard-hit countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal. In the last few years, such advice has often fallen on deaf ears, given the political constraints in Europe and many officials’ belief in budget balance as a prerequisite to growth.

Mr. Van Rompuy mentioned the “vivid debate” over “fiscal policy and the pace of fiscal consolidation” in his remarks. He pointed out that some countries have been given additional time to meet the euro zone’s deficit goals. But Mr. Van Rompuy reaffirmed the Continent’s strategy, rather than indicating a change in direction despite the rising unemployment and worse than expected contraction.

“The European economies face a high level of debt, deep structural medium-term challenges and short-term economic headwinds that we need to confront,” he added. “There is no room for complacency.”

The trip is Mr. Lew’s first to Europe as Treasury secretary. Earlier this year, he visited Beijing in his first trip abroad in the post. Though he worked for a time in the State Department in the Obama administration, Mr. Lew is primarily known as a domestic budget expert.

In contrast, his predecessor, Timothy F. Geithner, was an international finance specialist who had previously worked at the International Monetary Fund and as Treasury under secretary for international affairs. During his tenure, Mr. Geithner repeatedly pressed his counterparts in Europe to ease up on austerity, though without much success.

On Monday, the French government canceled a meeting between Mr. Lew and his counterpart, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, with a scandal over a former budget chief’s offshore accounts brewing. But late Monday evening, the meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Paris, the Treasury said.

Later on Monday, Mr. Lew also met in Frankfurt with Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank. He is scheduled to travel to Berlin on Tuesday to see Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister.

Earlier on Monday, Mr. Lew met with other European officials, including José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.

A Treasury official said they, too, discussed the need for Europe to generate more demand, as well as the situation in Cyprus, a cross-border banking union and a prospective free-trade agreement.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/business/global/us-treasury-chief-talks-of-growth-in-europe.html?partner=rss&emc=rss