Official figures have confirmed that the euro zone's annual inflation rate hit a record high of 3.2% in January. Higher education, transport and food costs were the main factors in the rise.
A separate EU survey showed that confidence in the euro zone economy slipped in February to the lowest level in more than two years.
The inflation figure, unchanged from an estimate at the end of January, was well above the European Central Bank's (ECB) preferred level of close to but less than 2%.
The ECB has repeatedly sounded the alarm recently about inflation threats as it faces a growing dilemma of keeping a lid on price growth without endangering increasingly weak economic activity.
Meanwhile, the European Commission's economic sentiment indicator slid in February to 100.1 points, well down from 101.7 in January. The commission blamed the drop mainly on a significant fall in confidence in the services sector.
