A new report shows the European Union's economy shrinking more than expected.

Revisedfigures issued by the EU Wednesday show the 16-nation eurozone's grossdomestic product was down by 0.2 percent in the second quarter ascompared to the first three months of the year. A contraction of 0.1percent had been predicted.  

The trend was reflected across the 27-nation EU as a whole, where the fall in GDP was 0.3 percent.

Tocombat a sliding economy, many EU nations have run up budget deficitsexceeding the EU's limit of three percent of each country's GDP.  

TheEuropean Commission declared nine countries to be in violation of thedeficit limit Wednesday, including Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands - as well as Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovakiaand Slovenia.  

The EU designed the rule to keep the finances of EU nations in line and maintain the stability of the European currency.