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The French and German economies both managed 0.2% growth in the July-to-September period but their resilience could not save the 17-nation bloc from contraction as the likes of The Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Austria shrank.

Economic output in the Eurozone fell 0.1% in the Quarter, following a 0.2% drop in Q-2.

Those 2 Quarters of contraction put the Eurozone’s EUR 9.4-T, US$12-T economy back into recession, although Italy and Spain have been contracting for a year already and Greece is suffering an full on depression.

A rebound in Europe is still far off. The debt crisis that began in Greece in late Y 2009 is still reverberating around the globe and holding back a lasting recovery.

Analysts said even the Eurozone’s top 2 economies, Germany and France are likely to follow in the final 3 months of the year.

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For the whole of Y 2012, the European Commission sees the Eurozone contracting 0.4%, while growing just 0.1% in Y 2013. Business surveys point to difficult times ahead and the public’s backlash to austerity policies are growing.

A poll of more than 70 economists predicted the bloc’s new recession will extend until the end of this year and Y 2013 promises little better than stagnation, in line with what the Commission is forecasting.

Conducted before Thursday’s data were released, the consensus was for a Y 2012 contraction of 0.5% and just 0.1% growth next year.

Millions of workers went on strike across Europe on Wednesday to protest the government spending cuts they say are driving the region into a deeper malaise but which Germany and the Commission say are crucial to healing the wounds of a decade-long, credit-fueled boom.

Spain’s Economy Minister Luis De Guindos has repeatedly called for EU-mandated budget cuts to take into account the Eurozone’s recession, while Greece has been given 2 more yrs to make the cuts demanded of it.