Compared with the same quarter of 2008, GDP fell by 4.8 percent in the 27-member EU and by 4.6 percent in the 16-member eurozone.

Looking at the quarter-on-quarter figures, Europe's worst performers were the Baltic trio of Lithuania (-12.3 percent), Estonia (-3.7 percent) and Latvia (-1.6 percent), along with Hungary (-2.1 percent), Romania (-1.2 percent) and the Netherlands (-0.9 percent).

The best performer was Slovakia (2.2 percent), followed by Germany, France, Greece and Portugal (0.3 percent each).

European GDP has been falling steadily since the first half of 2008, plummeting the economy into its worst downturn in decades.