Euro-zone private sector business activity shrank in November, but at a slower pace that the previous month (the PMI print rose to 46.6 from 46 in October).
It operates in a part of the buffer zone known as Sector B, just east of Kosovo.
The surprise slow-down in the euro zone private service sector was met with similar results in manufacturing, which dropped below expectations to 48.4 in the factory index from 49.0 in August.
European markets pared earlier losses but closed lower, amid data showing some improvement in the euro zone's manufacturing sector.
They were referring to preliminary data out Tuesday, which showed private-sector economic activity in the euro zone unexpectedly ticked up in January.
With big public-sector debts (the euro-zone average is 84% of GDP), restoring fiscal health could take decades of austerity, especially if growth is sluggish.
Euro-zone officials said official sector involvement is now under active consideration.
In its half-yearly assessment of the euro zone's financial sector, also published Wednesday, the ECB argued that the response from financial markets to political shocks was "muted" in the first half of this year, thanks largely to its own efforts to backstop government debt markets and relieve bank funding pressures.
The private sector needs more flexibility across the euro zone, including greater labor mobility and a unified labor market, to respond to economic shocks.
In Europe overnight there was fresh data showing the Euro zone continues to see a very fragile financial sector.
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As leaders trickled into the European Union's boxy headquarters, Ms. Merkel faced a challenge to placate the euro zone's south, which thought private-sector involvement was dangerous, and its north, which thought it didn't go far enough.
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The closely watched 17-nation euro zone PMI index, which measures both manufacturing and service sector strength, dropped to 48.7 in March.
Far from curbing the size of the public sector, at 56% of GDP the biggest in the euro zone, he seems likely to expand it.
Another factor that makes the garment sector a tinderbox is its location or rather, the lack of an industrial zone for garment manufacture.
The automotive sector has had a challenging ride given the continuous economic crisis in the Euro zone and slowing growth in the emerging markets.
In their view, a euro-zone bailout of Ireland would give Dublin enough cash to fix the banking sector without going bust itself.
In many ways, the debt crisis confronts euro-zone leaders with a dilemma similar to that facing governments when the banking sector crumbled in 2007 and 2008.
For one thing, a restructuring earlier this year delayed repayment on its private sector debt by at least a decade, and much of what it owes other euro-zone countries doesn't fall due for many years hence.
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