According to the European Commission's Thursday statement, the indicators of the economy having turned around from its record lows have been substantiated by the fact that business and consumer confidence in the 16 Euro-using countries improved in May - the second monthly improvement in the confidence index a row!

Speaking in terms of figures, the European Commission said in Brussels that the index of business and consumer confidence in the Euro-zone increased from 67.2 in April to 69.3 in May, indicating the highest figures since November 2008.

Referring to the industrial confidence, the commission said that it had risen from -34 in May from -35 in April, largely because of an enhancement in production prospects, even though total orders and exports have undergone a fall as compared to the April figures.

On May 7, European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet had said that he could see "tentative signs of stabilization" in the economy, following the ECB's cut its yardstick rate to 1 percent.

Commenting on the European confidence in May, Nick Kounis, Chief European economist at Fortis in Amsterdam, said: "The economy is still actually contracting going into the second quarter, but at a significantly slower rate than we saw in the first quarter. We're coming up from very low levels, so even though we're seeing significant rises we should put it into context."