Official figures show that the euro zone economy grew at an annual rate of 2.7% in the second quarter of this year, up slightly from a previous estimate of 2.6%.
The EU's Eurostat data agency said the rate, which surged from 2.2% in the first quarter, marked the strongest growth since the first quarter of 2001, during the heady days of the high-tech boom.
On a quarterly basis, the zone's economy expanded by 0.9% after growth of 0.8% in the first quarter, Eurostat said, sticking with a previous estimate.
That rate is likely to mark the peak of the current economic cycle, however, because the European Commission separately forecast that growth would ease in the second half of the year and the beginning of 2007.
The commission forecast that euro zone quarterly growth would cool to 0.4-0.8% in the third quarter, 0.2-0.7% in the fourth quarter and 0-0.5% in the first quarter of 2007. The new forecasts are more pessimistic than those made in August.
