Europe emerged from recession.

Euro-zone economy grew in the third quarter of 2009 to 0.4 per cent and the European Union as a whole - at 0.2 percent, compared with the previous quarter. This is stated in the official press release published on the website of Eurostat. Published data indicate that both the EU and the euro area have returned to economic growth and emerged from the recession, which turned out to be the end of last year. Eurostat data were better than analysts' forecasts, which in September predicted that the Eurozone GDP in the third quarter will grow by 0.2 per cent. In annualized decline of the economy the euro zone in July and September slowed to 4.1 percent. In the second quarter of 2009, compared with the second quarter of 2008, Eurozone GDP fell 4.8% in January-March this year - by 0,9%. Earlier, on November 13 it became known that the GDP of Germany, the largest economy of the European Union, and France is growing a second consecutive quarter. In July-September, Germany's economy grew by 0.7 per cent in April-June - to 0.4 percent. France reported on GDP growth of 0,3 per cent in the second and third quarters. In addition, the recession in the third quarter managed to Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Lithuania. Exit from the recession has not yet been able to the UK economy, Spain, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Romania. Now in the euro zone comprises 16 European countries. The last join the euro zone Slovakia - January 1, 2009. It was reported earlier that the economic recession in France and Germany ceased. In the period from April to July, the economy of both countries - the most industrialized in the EU - showed growth at 0.3% - thus coming out of recession. Very few analysts predicted that the current recession will end so soon. "These data are very unexpected, - said the French Minister of Finance and Economy Christine Lagarde. - After four quarters of economic recession France finally showed positive growth." However, the combined GDP of the eurozone countries for the second quarter decreased by 0.1%, which means that the overall decline in the European economy has not yet ended. The current figure nevertheless looks very optimistic on the background of the results of the first quarter, when the economic recession in Europe amounted to 2,5%. Most economists predicted roughly the same figures for the second quarter.