The 27-member bloc predicts marginal growth of less than one percent this year, raising concerns about potential economic challenges aggravated by risk factors like inflation, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, rising wages, strikes and cuts to energy subsidy programs.
Driven by falling energy prices, Germany's consumer price inflation softened to the lowest level in just over two-and-a-half years, as initially estimated in January, final data from Destatis showed on Friday.
Germany's consumer price inflation accelerated for the first time in six months in December, in line with expectations, provisional data from Destatis showed on Thursday.
German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, rose by an annual 4.3% in September, preliminary data from the federal statistics office showed on Thursday.