BRUSSELS: A monthly survey of EU and eurozone business and consumer confidence in September rose at the smallest pace since April, the European Commission said yesterday, showing that European optimism about the economic recovery is still fragile.

The European Commission said its economic sentiment indicator climbed to 82.8 in the 16-country eurozone from 80.8 in August. In the 27-country EU, it rose to 82.6 in September from 81 last month.

The EU executive warned that the green shoots of a recovery are not pushing through evenly across Europe - and that both businesses and workers in the EU and eurozone have "leveled off" expectations that employment will rebound.