Xavier Vidal-Folch
Deputy director of El País since 1989 and in charge of international relations for the Spanish daily, Xavier Vidal Folch was also head of its Catalonian edition till March 2009. He was elected president of the World Editors Forum in December 2008. Vidal-Folch writes a column in El País on the Spanish and international economy.
Updated: 19 June 2009
The Cyprus crisis has shone a spotlight on the special tax status of the island in the eurozone. That status, though, is not very different from that of other European countries, like Luxembourg or the Channel Islands: aberrations that should purely and simply be abolished. 
At best, the measures adopted at the January 30 summit – the fiscal treaty and the economic growth plan – are meant, at best, to overcome the mistakes of the past year and a half, says columnist Xavier Vidal-Folch. At worst, they’re part of a recurring sham.
Accused at times of excessive timidity, at times of trespassing on the preserve of states, the governor of the European Central Bank has, on balance, been able to hold the euro steady and, so far, to avoid getting swept away by the crisis.
A few days ahead of the 11 March Eurozone summit that should prove crucial for the the future of the single currency and the union's most indebted members, Angela Merkel is piling the pressure on her EU partners to accept the Competitivness Pact concocted along with French president Nicolas Sarkozy. 
In Brussels, 28/29 October, France and Germany will try to persuade their EU partners to modify some of the EU's cornerstone texts in order to create a culture of budgetary rigour. A simplistic and useless idea, according to a Spanish editorialist. 
In these times of economic crisis, the countries of the southern Mediterranean are displaying unexpected dynamism – a trend the EU is beginning to shore up with regional cooperation projects, reports El País. 
The idea of a European Monetary Fund is gaining ground. The object: to shore up countries like Greece whose overindebtedness poses a threat to the euro’s stability. Those opposed, especially in Germany, should remember the solidarity Europe once showed in joining forces to establish a viable union. 
Since the beginning of the global economic slowdown, unemployment in Spain has shot up to 17%. The Spanish government could do well to look to Germany, argues El País, where the jobless total is less dramatic.