Official figures show that the euro zone economy grew by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2010, after zero growth over the previous three months.
Compared with the same period last year, there was growth of 0.5%, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat.
Throughout the 27-nation EU as a whole, which also includes Britain and Poland, the first quarter also showed 0.2% quarterly growth.
The breakdown of national figures showed crisis-hit Greece's economy shrinking by 0.8%. Of the major euro zone countries, Italy posted the fastest growth, at 0.5%, making up for a 0.1% drop over the previous quarter.
Read more details on the German and French figures here
Read more about Spanish efforts to cut its deficit here
The overall figures for the euro zone and the EU compared unfavourably to first quarter growth of 0.8% for the US.
