The warning came as data from Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, showed Europe's powerhouse economies grew faster than expected at the start of this year.
Germany grew at an impressive 1.5pc quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2011, while France grew by 1pc, the most since early 2006.
By contrast, the UK grew 0.5pc in the same period. Greece, which is struggling under the terms of a ?110bn (�97bn) bail-out, shocked analysts by posting growth of 0.8pc, its first economic expansion for about three years.
However, that came after a massive drop in the previous quarter. Spain - striving to differentiate itself from nations which have needed rescues - reported 0.3pc growth, while Italy grew just 0.1pc.
Nonetheless, the stronger performers meant that the total economy of the nations sharing the currency grew 0.8pc on the previous quarter, above expectations after the region saw 0.3pc growth in the final quarter of last year.
The euro climbed almost half a pence against the pound to 87.64p, as markets bet that the stronger-than-expected growth - and upgraded expectations for prices - meant the European Central Bank will soon raise interest rates again to rein in inflation, despite the debt crisis still afflicting the eurozone's weaker nations.
There was debate as to whether the UK is on the right course. "It has to be said that [the] eurozone's first-quarter GDP growth rate of 0.8pc quarter-on-quarter makes the UK's 0.5pc expansion look even more paltry - especially as the UK had contracted by 0.5pc quarter-on-quarter in the [previous] quarter," said Howard Archer, UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
Labour argued that the UK's "zero growth" - in the words of the Commission - over the six months from September to March meant that the UK was stuck in Europe's economic "slow lane".
"Countries like France, Belgium, the Netherlands and even Spain have overtaken us while Germany is powering ahead," said Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor.
A Treasury spokesman countered that was much further in the "danger zone" a year ago. "The Government is having to deal with a deficit four times bigger than Germany's. Our banking bust was matched only by Ireland. Our housing bust [was] second only to Spain's," he said.
UBS analysts meanwhile cautioned that despite the good news for Europe most nations' public finances are "still far from sustainability".
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