The low-lying states of Eu-146 populated in the decay of the 9(+) isomer were studied. The gamma-ray intensities were reanalyzed employing germanium detectors, and the lifetimes of the 6(1)(-) and 6(2)(-) states were measured using the mirror symmetric centroid difference (MSCD) method with fast-timing LaBr3(Ce) scintillator detectors. The B(M1) values of the 6(1)(-) -> 5(1)(-) and 6(2)(-) -> 5(1)(-) transitions were deduced, and all observed states were interpreted as members of the pi d(5/2)(-1)nu f(7/2) and pi g(7/2)(-1)nu f(7/2) multiplets. In particular, the 5(1)(-) level is shown to be dominated by the pi d(5/2)(-1)nu f(7/2) configuration, solving the discrepancy in its configuration assignment proposed in previous works. These experimental results were compared with the shell model calculations using several different effective interactions. The systematics of low-lying structure in the N = 83 isotones Pr-142, Pm-144, and Eu-146 was established.