Europe’s worst recession since World War II could be coming to an end, as both Germany and France showed unexpected growth in the second quarter, Bloomberg reported.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro region decreased 0.1 percent after a first-quarter GDP plunge of 2.5 percent. Both France and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, second-quarter GDP rises of 0.3 percent from the first quarter. Italy and the Netherlands, however, hurt the region with contractions in GDP of 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

“There is a more-than-decent chance that euro-zone economic activity has now hit a bottom and will expand again in the third quarter, as many other economies follow Germany and France out of recession,” Martin van Vliet, senior economist at ING Bank in Amsterdam, told Bloomberg.

However, he cautioned that the recovery will be “relatively slow and protracted.”

European stocks and the euro climbed after the figures were released, but rising unemployment across the region could still slow consumer spending.