In the Eurozone, economic activity advanced by 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2023, signaling stability compared with the previous three months, a trend confirmed by Eurostat on Wednesday.
Across the broader European Union, GDP remained flat from April through June after recording 0.2 percent growth in the first quarter of the year, underscoring a softening pace of expansion within the bloc.
When compared with the same quarter a year earlier, euro area GDP rose by 0.6 percent, while the EU-wide measure increased by 0.5 percent, indicating moderate year-over-year momentum across the region.
Looking at quarterly performance data among EU member states with available figures, Ireland led with a 3.3 percent expansion, followed by Lithuania at 2.8 percent and Slovenia at 1.4 percent, highlighting the uneven distribution of growth within the union.
On the downside, several large economies did not fare as well: Poland contracted by 3.7 percent, Sweden declined by 1.5 percent, and Latvia slipped by 0.6 percent during the quarter, reflecting diverse regional pressures and structural challenges across member states.
For Germany, one of the bloc’s largest economies, the quarter showed little change as the country stagnated after a 0.1 percent dip in the first quarter. France managed to accelerate, lifting growth from 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent, while Italy, which had grown 0.6 percent in the first quarter, fell by 0.3 percent in the second quarter, illustrating the mixed performance of major euro-area economies within the same period.
Spain also saw growth ease, with quarterly GDP rising 0.4 percent in the second quarter, down from 0.5 percent in the first three months of 2023, signaling cooling momentum in a key southern European economy.
In a comparison of broader economic trajectories, the euro area’s growth pace remained notably softer than that of the United States. The United States registered about 0.6 percent growth in the second quarter, slightly higher than the 0.5 percent pace observed in the first quarter, underscoring the divergent paths of the two major economies during the year’s mid-year period.