Briefings
Euro, a currency living on borrowed time
Decisive weeks
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Eurozone crisis: After the downgrades comes the downward spiral
16 January 201222263 Financial Times London -
Eurozone crisis: For S&P, the Emperor has no clothes
16 January 20126515PresseuropCorriere della Sera, Hospodárske Noviny, Die Presse & 3 others -
Eurozone crisis: France relegated to 2nd division
16 January 20125211 Le Monde Paris -
Eurozone crisis: Panic - hottest all-time business model
30 November 201167114 Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
Press review: Euro at a turning point
28 November 201113015PresseuropDie Welt, El Economista, La Tribune & 3 others -
Debate: In defence of technocrats
17 November 201119211 The Guardian London -
Debate: Look behind you, Lucas and Mario
15 November 201142510 Financial Times London -
Debate: The crisis and three Europes
14 November 20111959 România libera Bucharest -
Eurozone crisis: Europe against the people?
11 November 201143123 The Economist London -
Debt crisis : Wave of panic in France
11 November 20118PresseuropLe Monde -
Eurozone crisis: Technocracy is no way to go
7 November 20112836 Il Sole-24 Ore Milan -
G20: Italy falls under IMF tutelage
4 November 20112PresseuropLa Repubblica -
Eurozone crisis: Will someone rid us of the Greek poison?
2 November 20111358 Le Figaro Paris -
European summit: The fake euro rescue
27 October 20112563 Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
European Summit: Birth of a United States of Europe
27 October 201113PresseuropLibération -
Press review: Zero hour for the euro has come
26 October 20111041PresseuropLe Figaro, Handelsblatt, La Vanguardia & 2 others -
Italy: Frantic deal to appease Europe
26 October 2011PresseuropCorriere della Sera -
European summit: Putting out fire while rebuilding the house
26 October 2011712 Le Monde Paris -
European summit: Italy, the ideal scapegoat
24 October 2011837 Corriere della Sera Milan -
Press review: Another attack from the rating agencies
19 October 20119616Presseurop -
Opinion: How the euro will divide Europe
17 October 201110815 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Press review: Dexia - the bomb in the Eurozone
5 October 20111562Presseurop -
Italy: Moody’s drives in another nail
5 October 2011PresseuropCorriere della Sera -
Germany: Merkel saves euro – and her own skin
30 September 2011PresseuropFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
In the wake of the collective downgrading of 9 eurozone countries, including France, it’s become clear that the EU’s policy of rescue funds coupled with fiscal austerity has exhausted itself. It’s time for Angela Merkel and her partners to find a credible outcome, writes Wolfgang Münchau. 
For the European press, the ratings downgrade for nine eurozone countries by Standard & Poor's merely confirms what markets and leaders have known for a long time: that the difficulties of the eurozone are primarily due to rifts between the member countries. 
Standard & Poor's 13 January downgrade of France’s credit rating is a double blow: Nicolas Sarkozy and his presidential election rivals will come under even greater pressure from the markets while the North-South divide in Europe has grown significantly wider. 
Fear, alarm, apocalypse: moods rather than facts steer mankind, writes futurologist Matthias Horx. This holds true for the eurozone crisis as well. 
Ratings for all European countries are at risk, warned Moody's on November 28. The warning comes at a time when Italy is under heavy pressure from the markets and proposals for solving the crisis are proliferating. But it may already be too late, worries the European press. 
The appointments of non-politicians Lucas Papademos and Mario Monti in Greece and Italy has caused much ink to flow. But on the continent, experts have often played a positive role in politics in times of deep crisis, points out a Guardian editor. 
The arrival of technocratic governments in Greece and Italy may well calm jittery markets, but could also help boost populist political parties who point to the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU, argues Gideon Rachman. 
The EU may well soon be split up between the performers, the lame, and the laggards, worries Romanian political scientist Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. And let’s not count on a fake European identity to bring everyone together. 
Efforts to save the euro cannot run against the will of the voters indefinitely, writes Charlemagne of the Economist. 
Governments of “experts” proposed in Italy and Greece could be good at taking emergency decisions, but would deepen European citizens’ diffidence towards ever more indirect democracy. To avoid this, politics must reclaim its role. 
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's decision to submit the EU rescue plan to a referendum is dangerous and irresponsible, complains conservative French daily Le Figaro. 
Europe's politicians would like to celebrate the decisions of the 26 October summit as historic. But the euro crisis will be with us a while longer yet. The basic paradox – that states want to buy the trust of investors with money that they don’t have – just can’t be eternally ignored. 
The extraordinary summit held in Brussels on October 26 is considered crucial by the European press. But whether it's about rescuing Greece or saving the single currency itself, it's a sense of unease that dominates. 
The European Council and eurozone crisis summit which opens on October 26 must prevent debt contagion. But it's a second wind that the EU needs if it's to have a future. 
At the European Council of 23 October, Germany and France passed out some good marks and some bad marks to partners in trouble in the eurozone – to Italy, notably. While the criticism of the inertia of the Berlusconi government is justified, the current crisis is equally down to the sluggish reactions that Berlin and Paris have shown ever since the beginning, writes the Corriere della Sera. 
A few days ahead of the EU summit that should be “decisive” for the eurozone, rating agencies have degraded or threatened to degrade the sovereign rating of Spain and France and the Italian banks. A final assault while Brussels is trying to get its act together? asks the European press. 
Mooted eurozone reforms should enhance the single currency’s ability to weather financial crises, but will probably deepen the European Union’s division into an inner core (the eurozone) and the rest, argues a Polish columnist. 
Weakened by its toxic financial arrangements, the Franco-Belgian bank is on the brink. For some, this could usher in a series of bank failures throughout Europe. For others, it is above all the credibility of member states that is at stake. Desperately seeking solution
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European Council: Unity dearly bought
9 December 201135121 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Eurozone crisis: Farewell sweet sovereignty...
8 December 201134917 El País Madrid -
European Union: The economic order that inspires Merkel
8 December 20112006 Libération Paris -
Eurozone crisis: Van Rompuy and Barroso to the rescue
7 December 2011223PresseuropEl País -
Press review: Who will follow Merkel and Sarkozy?
6 December 201111521PresseuropAdevărul, Rzeczpospolita, Postimees & 4 others -
Eurozone crisis: How business is preparing for Eurogeddon
1 December 20112853PresseuropPresseurop -
Debt crisis: Savers rally to patriotic call
29 November 2011744PresseuropPresseurop -
Eurozone crisis: Only Eurobonds can save us
24 November 201114210 El Mundo Madrid -
Eurozone crisis : Brussels to put bad pupils under tutelage
22 November 20114PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Eurozone crisis: Frankfurt Group, Europe’s hit squad
16 November 201146511 The Spectator London -
Finance: Barnier passes timid curbs on rating agencies
16 November 20111PresseuropLa Tribune -
Debt crisis: The ECB has only to say the word
14 November 20113147 Le Monde Paris -
Debate: Refuseniks and problem cases of the non-eurozone
10 November 20116415 Respekt Prague -
EFSF: Europe’s financial flop fund
8 November 2011811 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Eurozone crisis: And if Greece goes...
4 November 201123313 Le Figaro Paris -
Eurozone crisis: May God defend the EU’s heretics
3 November 201133210 Die Presse Vienna -
European Union: Idea of non-eurozone gains support
2 November 20111052PresseuropAdevărul -
Debt crisis: China is ready to help
28 October 20113799 The Global Times Beijing -
Debt crisis: The Economist sceptical about rescue plan
28 October 20111PresseuropThe Economist -
Financial crisis : Fear is gobbling up politics
20 October 20112008 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Eurozone crisis: Troika believes in Potemkin villages
12 October 20112888 Irish Independent Dublin -
Eurozone crisis: Europe cannot afford any more mistakes
11 October 20111118 La Vanguardia Barcelona -
ECB: What it would have cost without Trichet
6 October 2011652 El País Madrid -
Debt crisis: Beware the saviours of the euro
5 October 20111407 Der Freitag Berlin -
Press review: Barroso goes for bravado
29 September 2011647Presseurop -
Eurozone crisis: Europe returns to national identity
16 September 201132715 The Guardian London
Without doubt, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have taken a big step nearer their goal of a fiscal union. But at what price? Britain remains outside it. The salvation or the disintegration of the Union is now approaching. 
If approved by the Twenty-Seven, the fiscal union proposed by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy would be a decisive new stage on the path to European federalism. But are all willing to pay the price: the surrender of the budgetary autonomy of states? 
Angela Merkel’s drive to impose discipline and sanctions in the Eurozone is not a bid to establish German hegemony, but simply an extension of the economic doctrine that provided the basis for Germany’s economic miracle: “ordoliberalism”. 
At a 5 December meeting in Paris, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on a plan to save the euro from catastrophe, which they will be asking the EU’s 27 member states to approve at a summit on 8-9 December. The European press, however, thinks they’re not out of the woods yet. 
The measure demanded by most European partners and supported by the European Commission still meets with stiff opposition from Germany. But Berlin cannot indefinitely block the launch of Eurobonds, which increasingly appear to be the only solution to the debt crisis. 
Gathered around Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, a small group of unelected EU officials have been assigned the task of governing the eurozone and removing leaders who fail to toe the line, writes the British conservative weekly The Spectator. 
There is a simple way to resolve the Eurozone crisis: the European Central Bank just has to state that it will be the lender of last resort for European states. But this solution, which has the support of many economists, is rejected by the ECB — a doctrinaire position, which a Le Monde columnist deplores. 
As the eurozone crisis deepens, the countries outside of it are trying to come up with ways not to lose control of their destinies inside the EU. 
The EFSF was meant to save the single currency. And yet it has found no buyers. Investors are shying away from a complicated, uncertain financial product whose weaknesses the politicians are trying to cover up. 
What if Greece leaves the EU? Professor George Prevelakis argues that it is an eventuality that would prompt a new geopolitical upset in the Balkans. As for the EU, it would be forced to acknowledge its inability to “Europeanise” a member state of 30 years standing. 
Irresponsible? Poker game? – The reactions to the Greek referendum are revealing how tenaciously the “Brussels Congregation of the Faithful” are sticking to their dogmas. And that's a good thing, writes the editor of Die Presse: as things stand, Europe's last chance is heresy. 
The eurozone is looking for financial aid from emerging countries, mainly China. A prospect that sends shivers down the spines of many Europeans. But for the official Beijing daily Global Times, any future deal will need to be a “civilized” one. 
Out of fear and ignorance, the politicians have been trying since the beginning of the financial crisis to beat the financial markets with their own weapons – and they can still flourish many trillions of euros more. But if they can’t remember to go back to playing by the rules of politics, they are bound to lose the arm-wrestle. 
In Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the EU and the IMF are living in their own fantasy of countries cured by austerity. But behind this facade, we’re beginning to see the reality of Europe’s banks filled with bad investments, writes the economic columnist David McWilliams. 
Recapitalising the banks, as called for now by Angela Merkel, is a good step. But avoiding the errors that have been made from the very beginning of the crisis and fostering European growth backed by Germany would be better, writes La Vanguardia. 
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.
If the European project is to be saved, then it's time to stand up to the likes of Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy who are promoting a union of democracy deficit, tax competition and social dumping, argues a German author. 
In his “Speech of the Union” to the European Parliament on September 28, the President of the Commission sought to defend his institution and put forward concrete proposals to leave the crisis behind. But the European press has no illusions about his true room for manoeuvre. 
The looming Greek default has brought an arrogant and overbearing EU to a turning point. And a return to a national dimension is the outcome we can look forward to, writes a British columnist. Waiting for Germany
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Eurozone crisis: Do what the lady says
2 December 201120864 La Repubblica Rome -
Eurozone crisis: Polish minister begs Germany to act
30 November 20119PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Who’s afraid of Germany? (4): Merkel’s Nein is wrecking the EU
24 November 201126016 Die Tageszeitung Berlin -
Who’s afraid of Germany? (2): Europe sprechs German now
22 November 201122710 Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
Who's afraid of Germany? (1): Myth of German economic discipline
21 November 201158520 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Eurozone crisis: Germany, the hobbled giant
3 November 20111118 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Eurozone Summit: We are all at Germany’s mercy
27 October 201127122 Eleftherotypia Athens -
Press review: Angela rules the roost
24 October 20111217Presseurop -
Eurozone crisis: They are burying the federal ideal
21 October 20111285 Le Figaro Paris -
Eurozone crisis: Time to get angry, Europe
31 August 20111966 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Germany: Helmut Kohl lectures Merkel
26 August 2011832Presseurop -
Germany: Helmut Kohl: Merkel is destroying my Europe
18 July 2011885PresseuropDer Spiegel
Europe must learn to co-operate with Germany, argues veteran Italian columnist Barbara Spinelli. Despite a reputation for being excessively stern and power-hungry, German rigour is nevertheless the only viable alternative to the Chinese model. 
Alone against all, the Chancellor says ‘No’ to a supporting mandate for the ECB and ‘No’ to common euro bonds. In Germany too, more and more experts are warning that her firm stance on discipline and rules is plunging the eurozone into chaos. 
“Europe is speaking German,” trumpeted CDU deputy Volker Kauder. Just let’s not overdo it, warns the Berliner Zeitung. An association of free democracies should look a bit different. 
Germany is selling itself during the crisis as a haven of stability – and the financial markets even believe it. But, in truth, it’s hardly better off than the others. And its public role of disciplinarian is arrogant and dangerous, writes Spiegel Online. 
It dictates the agenda of EU summits, defines the rules, makes an entire continent wait, and always ends up imposing its will. With the euro crisis Germany finds itself alone at the head of the Union. But is it up to this new role? 
The leaders of the Eurozone have reduced Greece’s debt and increased the amount of EU aid. However, for Eleftherotypia, which notes on its front page that “German tanks are in the bailout,” the decision will put the Greeks and all Europeans under the heel of Berlin. 
The European press is unanimous: at the 23 October summit, it was the German Chancellor who dictated her conditions to partner countries — including France — on what should be done to save the euro and Europe’s over-indebted countries from the crisis. 
The 23 October Eurozone summit may be followed by a second meeting on the 26th, requested by France and Germany. Le Figaro argues that this development in the manner in which the crisis is being addressed is proof that in spite of disagreements, the Berlin-Paris axis and the intergovernmental method have prevailed over the idea of a federal Europe.
The European common currency is in trouble, several EU countries are facing mountains of debt and solidarity within the bloc is declining. It is European youth, in particular, who have drawn the short stick. Closer cooperation is the only way forward. 
