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Brussels - Germany's faltering economy has cast further doubt over the eurozone's prospects for recovery this year, with no other big country strong enough to pick up the slack.
Since late last year, the 18 countries using the euro have been climbing steadily out of a two-year recession, but just as the bloc appeared to be turning the corner, its star economy, Germany, has fumbled the ball.
To make matters worse, other big states, including the eurozone's second-largest economy France, show little prospect of a strong rebound.
Price bubble
French industrial production plunged unexpectedly in May and inflation fell to its lowest level since the financial crisis in 2009. Adding to the gloom, Italy's factories also saw a 1.2% drop in output in May, the steepest fall in more than a year and a half.
And while Spain is expecting growth to accelerate to near 2% in 2015, one in four of Spain's workforce are out of work after the collapse of a property price bubble.
"Europe is getting more and more Japanese," said Carsten Brzeski, an economist with ING, echoing concerns of others that the region faces permanent slow growth and no price inflation.
"The euro zone is flat lining. I don't see substantial growth for another year."
The picture looked different at the start of 2014.
Industrial powerhouse
Throughout the first three months, the German economy grew at its strongest rate in three years - 0.8% - thanks in part to mild weather lifting construction work.
That made up for stagnation or slowdown in France, Italy and the Netherlands and prevented the bloc's overall recovery from stalling.
While Britain, outside the bloc, underlined its robust recovery with the strongest quarterly growth in four years - to end June - the mood is turning in continental Europe's industrial powerhouse. German exports, imports, industrial orders, output and retail sales all fell in May compared with a month earlier.
Germany's economy ministry on Thursday cautioned about the impact of the crisis in Ukraine on confidence in Germany as it painted a bleak picture of the second quarter.
Economic recovery
"After a growth-strong start to the year, the development of the German economy in the second quarter is subdued," the report said.
Across the whole eurozone, analysts expect growth in the second quarter at around 0.2%, quarter on quarter, as seen in the three months to March.
"I think the economy is growing, but ... not strongly enough to sustain a strong economic recovery across the eurozone as a whole."
