The European Union has emerged from its worst recession since World WarII, with the announcement Friday the region posted a modest growth inthe third quarter. Despite the good news, some EU economies are stillstruggling.

Both the European Union and the sixteen EU countriessharing the euro currency posted positive growth, at 0.2 percent and0.4 percent, respectively. The data was published by the Europeanstatistical agency Eurostat and announced by the European Commission inBrussels.

"We are back in positive territory after fiveconsecutive quarters of negative growth. This figure, which is a flashby the way - we don't have any other information at this stage - butwhat I can add is the figures released today by Eurostat are broadly inline with our forecasts," said a spokeswoman.

French Economy and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (file photo)Two of Europe'sbiggest economies, France and Germany, helped drive the overall growth.French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced the French economyhad grown 0.3 percent in the third quarter, and predicted it wouldenter 2010 with its old momentum.

In an interview on Frenchradio, Lagarde said the fact the French economy had posted twosuccessive quarters of positive growth showed it was turning around.She also noted that the labor market had only shed 5,000 jobs in thelast quarter, far fewer than at the beginning of the year.

Speakingfrom Singapore, Lagarde predicted Asia would drive the world economicrecovery - but she also said it was important to continue governmenteconomic stimulus measures through 2010.

Germany's economy grew0.7 percent in the third quarter and Italy and the Netherlands alsoposted an upturn. Lithuania recorded the biggest growth - up 6 percentin the third quarter.

But both British and Spanish economiesshrunk in the third quarter, which suggests the recovery remainsfragile. Moreover, Eurostat figures showed that unemployment in Europeoverall rose to 9.7 percent in September - the highest in 20 years.