Official figures show that the euro zone economy lost pace in the first quarter when it expanded at an annual rate of 3%. The EU's Eurostat agency trimmed back its earlier estimate of 3.1%.
The rate marked a slight slowdown from the final three months of 2006 when the zone grew at an annual rate of 3.3%, the fastest for six years.
On a quarterly basis, growth in the first quarter eased to 0.6% after hitting 0.9% in the final quarter of 2006. The data were roughly in line with economists' forecasts.
Meanwhile, the European Commission forecast that euro zone growth would remain steady over the course of the rest of the year. It projected the economy would grow in a range of 0.4-0.8% in both the second and third quarters and 0.2-0.8% in the final three months of the year.
Separate Eurostat figures showed that the euro zone unemployment rate fell again in April to a record low of 7.1%.
Meanwhile, euro zone manufacturing growth slipped unexpectedly to its weakest in 15 months in May.
The RBS/NTC Purchasing Managers' Index survey showed output prices growing at their slowest pace in 14 months, which may ease some concerns that inflationary pressures are set to accelerate even as employment growth remains strong. The PMI fell to 55 last month, its lowest since February 2006, from 55.4 in April.
