The eurozone GDP missed expectations by growing 0.2% in Q1, with France stagnating and Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands contracting.
Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.2% in the euro area (EA18) and by 0.3% in the EU28 during the first quarter of 2014, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, GDP grew by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU28.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.9% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2014, after +0.5% and +1.0% respectively in the previous quarter.
The only European economy that reported a significant growth rate was Germany, whose GDP went up by 0.8%. Spain's economy also kept growing during the first three months of 2014, growing by 0.4%.
However, France's GDP stagnated, reporting a 0.0% growth rate, while the Italian economy contracted by 0.1%, like that of the Netherlands, which went down by -1.4% and Portugal, which shrunk by 0.7%.
