Eurozone growth forecasts have been further slashed to 1.1% for 2015.
The previous forecast, made six months ago, was 1.7% growth.
But now, the predictions for both France and Germany have been shortened by nearly 1%.
Traditionally, Germany has been lauded as Europe’s economic powerhouse, ranking as the world’s fourth largest economy. France was immediately behind with the fifth biggest economy followed by the UK as the sixth.
The forecast for the UK was revised upwards to 2.7% for 2015.
The figures to hand at the European Commission led it to note that the eurozone is lagging behind other economies outside the euro, such as Britain and the US, both of which are neatly out of recession.
“The EU’s recovery appears weak, in comparison to other advanced economies and with respect to historical examples of post-financial crisis recoveries, even though these too were typically slow and fragile,” the commission admitted.
The situation highlights the thin line between present lacklustre performance and a triple dip recession in the euro region as well as the spectre of deflation spreading to more eurozone countries.
The seven fat years which ensued after the euro was introduced in January 2002 have now been matched by seven very lean years during the Great Recession.
