Briefings
L’euro sous pression
Une monnaie en état de siège
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Opinion: Referendum on the euro
10 May 2011405PresseuropDie Zeit -
Central Europe: The wilted charms of the euro
4 April 201172 Presseurop -
Europact: Life in the new bloc(k)
25 March 2011873 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
European Council: Euro, curse of the 17 Sisyphus
24 March 2011434 La Tribune Paris -
Debt crisis: Which way now for the Eurozone?
10 March 2011631 The Daily Telegraph London -
Debt crisis: An EU made in Germany
3 February 201114313 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Debt Crisis: Eurozone, where the cold shoulder is king
19 January 2011773 The Guardian London -
Debt crisis: Suspense over the future of the euro
12 January 201173 Presseurop -
European council: Euro seeks caring country
13 December 2010PresseuropPúblico -
Euro: Paris and Berlin unite against euro-bonds
10 December 20101PresseuropLe Figaro -
Debt crisis: Eurozone prophecies of doom
6 December 20101PresseuropDer Spiegel -
Single currency: The day the euro died
3 December 20105222 The Independent London -
Economic crisis: Don’t kill the euro
3 December 20102394 The Economist London -
Eurozone crisis: The banks will chip in… a bit
29 November 2010401 Presseurop -
Eurozone crisis: Can’t have your Guinness and drink it
26 November 20101051 Le Monde Paris -
Debt crisis: Slovaks fear a eurozone house of cards
25 November 2010PresseuropSME -
Economy: The mess at the heart of the euro
24 November 2010119 Les Echos Paris -
Eurozone Crisis: Merkel is no Marshall
19 November 20101PresseuropHandelsblatt -
Debt crisis: All hope lost on the good ship Euro?
12 November 20101253 Presseurop -
Debt crisis: Spanish fears amidst Irish black humour
11 November 201021PresseuropEl País -
Eurozone: Oh no, Lisbon is back...
29 October 2010831 Presseurop -
Editorial: Back to the drawing board?
29 October 201045Presseurop -
European Council: They’re leading us to the abyss
28 October 2010451 El País Madrid -
Euro: Easy does it, Nanny Merkel
27 October 2010522 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Stability pact: Fury over Merkel/Sarkozy putsch
22 October 2010PresseuropLa Tribune -
Stability Pact: The Merkel / Sarkozy hijack
20 October 2010190 The Guardian London -
Stability Pact: Devil is in the detail
19 October 2010PresseuropIl Sole-24 Ore -
European Council: Economic governance will have to wait
18 June 2010112 Presseurop -
Economic crisis: Madrid is not Athens (yet)
17 June 2010112 El Mundo Madrid -
Institutions: Revving a two-speed Europe
17 June 2010651 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Economic crisis: Frankfurt’s shroud of secrecy should be shed
7 June 2010201 Financial Times London -
Stock market: Speculators retreat, but for how long?
7 June 201019 Le Temps Geneva -
Finance : Brussels closes in on ratings agencies
3 June 2010PresseuropLe Soir -
Where is the union headed? (4): A harsh wake-up call
28 May 201026 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Where is the union headed? (3): A single European destiny
26 May 20101174 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Where is the Union headed? (1): European breakdown
21 May 201042 Die Presse Vienna -
Greek crisis: Germany has a problem with Europe
19 May 2010362 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Economic Crisis: What Africa can teach the eurozone
18 May 2010121 The Guardian London -
Banks: Bailouts are eating Europe
17 May 201026 Irish Independent Dublin -
What future for the euro? (3): Europe, stop clowning
17 May 20102 La Stampa Turin -
Budget: Europe enters era of belt-tightening
14 May 201018 Financial Times London -
Economic crisis: Europe is unprepared for austerity
11 May 2010315 Financial Times London -
What future for the euro? (2): Welcome to the United States of Europe
11 May 2010951 Eesti Päevaleht Tallinn -
Economic crisis: So, have they saved the euro?
10 May 201017 Presseurop -
What future for the euro? (1): Reform or die
7 May 201034 The Guardian London -
Stock Exchange: Will a financial black hole engulf all?
29 April 20101 El País Madrid -
Euro crisis: We are all liars
29 April 201073 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Greek crisis: And if Germany quit the euro?
27 April 20102424 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Greek crisis: Are we already in a two-speed Europe?
26 April 201085 La Repubblica Rome -
Greece: Europe’s nightmare coming true?
23 April 2010PresseuropLes Echos -
Eurozone crisis: Angela’s choice
25 March 201019 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Eurozone crisis: Euro hanging by a thread
25 March 20101 Presseurop -
Economy: No appetite for austerity
18 March 2010212 International Herald Tribune Paris -
Economic crisis: Club Euro, an erratic door policy
15 March 201019 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Eurozone crisis: All for one, one for all
15 March 2010El País Madrid -
Crisis: European Monetary Fund nears reality
9 March 2010PresseuropHandelsblatt -
Single currency: Euro, go east!
18 February 2010231 Handelsblatt Düsseldorf -
ECB: Nomination in time of crisis
16 February 2010PresseuropLa Tribune -
Finance: Goldman helped Greece cook books
15 February 201021PresseuropThe Independent -
Finance: Eurozone overhaul
12 February 201016 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Editorial: A new map of Europe
12 February 2010Presseurop -
Eurozone: Let Brussels take the helm
10 February 201011 Presseurop -
Stock Markets: Euro, what a carve up!
8 February 2010331 Presseurop -
Crisis: PIGS trying to get wings
4 February 2010377 Presseurop -
Economic crisis: Cheerio to the euro?
26 January 2010Presseurop -
Finance: Euro in hot water
19 January 2010261 Die Zeit Hamburg
Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has dampened enthusiasm for the single currency in most of the countries of Central Europe. Today, only the Baltic States are still eager to join the Eurozone, writes "Rzeczpospolita".
The europact, which the EU’s 27 member states are discussing today in Brussels, will pave the way for a complete overhaul "of the European economic bloc(k)." To ensure that it will able to weather stormy conditions on financial markets, the chief architects, France and Germany, are emphasising functionality and security over variety. 
European Council summits organised since the onset of the Greek crisis have not been sufficient to prevent Europe from sinking into recession and political crisis — a fact that will remain unchanged by the 24/25 March meeting of member state leaders, writes La Tribune. Europe is faced with a straight choice: reduce the burden on over-indebted countries or organise their exit from the Eurozone. 
Political paralysis in Brussels, monetary tightening by the ECB and soaring rates for Portuguese, Irish and Greek bonds : the omens for the crucial 11 March Eurozone summit on how to head off the deepening economic crisis are not good. 
To save the eurozone, do as the Germans. Much repeated by Angela Merkel, this message is getting through to her partners. But for the crisis-ridden EU, such is the price to pay, argues Die Zeit. 
With Portugal seemingly poised for a humiliating EU/IMF bailout and talks on an expansion of the stability fund, tensions within the Eurozone are on the rise. Squabbling between leaders and "Europe's big communication problem" is partly to blame. 
With several countries preparing bond issues and subjecting them to the “test of the markets,” the next few days will be decisive for the future of the euro. As the European press explains, we’ll shortly have a clear measure of market confidence in the capacity of the most fragile countries of the Eurozone to put their finances in order, as well as on the future stability of the single currency. 
Could Europe’s currency fall? And if it did, what would happen? Sean O’Grady, economics editor of London daily The Independent imagines a fatal day in the future when member states will say No. 
In the midst of bailouts, crunching austerity budgets, and aggressive bond markets, many are arguing that the single currency’s days are numbered. But a collapse of the euro would bring with it unprecedented technical, economic and political costs, argues The Economist. 
In addition to putting together a rescue package for Ireland, eurozone leaders have decided to rope the private sector into contributing to sovereign bailouts from 2013. A step in the right direction, lauds the press, but the crisis isn’t over yet.
The euro is undoubtedly weakened by the Irish and Greek crises but, on international markets its value remains assured and it warrants being defended, argues French leader writer Alain Frachon from the daily newspaper Le Monde. 
Writing for Les Echos, a French economist notes that the differences in how EU member states manage their budgets, pay scales and tax and welfare systems, relatively unimportant during prosperous times, have led to a lack of cooperation and solidarity in response to the current crisis. 
Not since the Greek crisis in the spring of this year has one country appeared so vulnerable to negative market sentiment. With an Irish bailout an increasingly likely prospect, the European press worries about the consequences for other members of the EU. 
Why decide to revise a treaty that only came into force last year? In the wake of the decision by Europe’s 27 member states, which aims to protect the single currency, the European press is far from impressed. 
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. 
Angela Merkel tells it like it is. That's the problem. Her plan to push through penalties for overindebted states at the 28 October European Council meeting is a good one, says Die Süddeutsche Zeitung. But it is also guaranteed to put the backs up of many members states, who will see an over-dominant Germany behind her good sense. 
Ahead of the EU summit to stabilize the troubled euro, the French president and German chancellor not only agreed on new budget rules, but have also called on reopening the Lisbon Treaty. A stitch-up, mutter officials at the Commission. 
At the 17 June summit in Brussels, the EU 27 laid the foundations for “economic governance” aimed at closer economic policy coordination. But they fell short of setting up a bona fide joint management of economic affairs – and intend to levy a controversial bank tax, recaps the European press. 
Rumours has been spreading all week: Spain might soon ask its partners for a helping hand in fighting its debt and fighting off speculators. The government is doing everything possible to dispel doubts, but the pressure is still mounting. 
The ongoing battle with the economic crisis is changing the nature of the European Union. Distanced due to measures to stabilise the single currency, countries outside the eurozone are concerned that they may become second division members of the EU.
The union’s finance ministers are shortly to agree on the details of a protective shield for the weaker eurozone members. But in the long-run the European Central Bank and the EU’s culture of secrecy is a threat to the future of the single currency, argues columnist Wolfgang Münchau. 
Certain commentators have noted that hedge funds, which have been accused of betting against the euro, did not return a profit in May. The EU's reaction to the attack on the single currency and the poor performance of the markets over the last few weeks have resulted in a setback for the speculators.
For years, the EU has sought comfort in the politically correct fiction which states that all member states have equal rights. Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev believes that Europe's citizens and political elites will now have to embrace a more hard-nosed language if we are to succeed in defending the European model. 
Taking their cue from the German chancellor, Europe’s leaders seem to be hiding behind “the will of the people” as an excuse for their inertia. And yet political will is what we need now to confront the crisis and bring the European project back to life, argues philosopher Jürgen Habermas. 
Angela Merkel is walling up Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy is rounding up the Mediterraneans, and the EU doesn’t know where it’s headed anymore. Behind the euro crisis and the ongoing row over how to handle it, the mutual trust and the will to work together are ebbing before our very eyes, observes Die Presse. 
If the Greek crisis is the most serious that the European Union has ever had to deal with, it’s now also a test of what Europe means for Germany, writes Gazeta Wyborcza. 
There is no solution to the Greek crisis other than a restructuring of its debt, argues leading Indian economist Jayati Ghosh. The experience of heavily indebted African countries suggests that austerity measures might not only threaten economic recovery in the eurozone but could also trigger further recession. 
Increasingly massive bail-outs of first Greece, then the eurozone, are doing little to calm jittery world markets. The problem, argues Irish economist David McWilliams, is that nations have hitched their destiny to a fragile banking system at the expense of their citizens. 
Contrary to its leaders’ glib pronouncements, the Lisbon Treaty and the bailout mechanism won’t suffice to safeguard Europe’s future. What we need is deeper integration to ward off new crises, urges editorialist Barbara Spinelli. 
Amid cries of outrage and expressions of disbelief, a new age of austerity has arrived in Europe. 
Europe has bought itself time with its €750bn bail-out for the euro. But the long-term problem remains. 
The €750 billion rescue package rubber-stamped by the EU 27 on 9 May applies the same strategy the US used two years ago, in the autumn of 2008, to save failing banks. 
The European press widely welcomes the decision of the EU 27– with the notable exception of the UK – to create a €750 billion financial support mechanism, which should shore confidence back up in the single currency. While the long-term effects thereof remain to be shown, it already outlines what may be the contours of EU economic governance. 
How is Europe to handle the Greek crisis that is putting the euro’s survival at risk? Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argues that it is not in imposing draconian public sector and welfare provision cuts. 
Following in the footsteps of Greece and Portugal, on 28 April, Spain saw its sovereign debt downgraded by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. El País reports that the onslaught of negative sentiment on the markets is almost out of control. 
Everyone’s talking about the Greek credibility deficit. But enough hypocrisy: the time has come to finally unmask the life-lies underlying our own society, fumes Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 
Germany is dragging its feet about lending money to Greece to absorb its deficit, and even threatening to expel less fiscally disciplined members from the eurozone. But the continent’s foremost economy had better keep the single currency afloat. Without the euro, Germany would be headed for disaster. 
Once again Germany has attached strings to the Greek bailout by the EU and IMF. That attitude reflects a dread of having to foot the bill for the others, but also a desire to redraw the contours of the eurozone, remarks La Repubblica. 
Other states can moan and groan to their hearts’ content: after the Greek fiasco, Angela Merkel is forcing fiscal discipline on Europe. After all, the political work of whole generations is at stake, alerts the Süddeutsche Zeitung. 
Meeting in Brussels, leaders of the 27 EU member states will examine options for the rescue of the beleaguered Greek economy. Decisions taken at the summit marked by a note of discord in Franco-German relations will prove crucial to the future of the single currency and its adoption by other countries of the Union that have yet to join the euro zone. 
From Greece to Ireland, the EU is encouraging members states to imposing painful cuts in public spending. But a growing number of critics are criticising a “cult of austerity” that threatens to push Europe further into recession. 
Long-standing members against new ones, irresponsible states against virtuous states, tolerance of the EU against excessive demands: the crisis over the single currency has revealed a new faultline within the union, according to the Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev. 
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. 
With its monetary union weakened by the crisis, the EU shouldn’t be afraid of enlarging the eurozone. Handelsblatt recommends rapidly integrating the more dynamic economies to the east, which have been scorned for too long as the weakest links in the system. 
It’s the rebirth of the euro. The EU has decided to bail out Greece, even if it means breaching the terms of its own treaties. The rescue will help not only the Greeks, but also the euro – and even the reluctant German taxpayer, rejoices Die Zeit. 
The EU 27 meeting in Brussels this Thursday could herald the birth of a sort of European “economic government”. This conclusion, long resisted by certain countries, now seems inescapable, what with Europe in the vice grip of an unprecedent financial crisis, reports the European press. 
Beleaguered on several fronts, the euro is facing an unprecedented ordeal. The European press inveighs against what it terms a hostile concerted attack and calls on the EU 27 to react.
The four weakest countries in the eurozone - Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, whose initials form the acronym PIGS – are making efforts to stabilise their economic situation. They may be going about it in different ways, but the European press reckons that they are all prey to the same uncertainties. 
The financial hardships experienced by countries like Greece and Ireland raise the issue of their possible exclusion from the Eurozone. But opinions on the feasibility of such an outcome are mixed. 
Germans’ favourite countries for holidaymaking are going broke. And Europeans will have to foot the bill for the worst debtors, explains Die Zeit, lest they become the next dominoes to teeter and topple into financial chaos. La Grèce au coeur de la tourmente
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Greek crisis: Germany braces to answer Athens' call
11 May 20111PresseuropHandelsblatt -
Greece: Get ready to wipe Athens’ slate clean
10 May 20112PresseuropDie Presse -
Greece: Lying will kill the euro
9 May 20111833 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Greece: An easy target for hoax reports
9 May 201169 Libération Paris -
Greece: Toward debt restructuring
6 April 2011PresseuropFinancial Times Deutschland, Financial Times Deutschland -
Eurozone crisis: Ireland and Greece: parallel destinies
28 February 2011852 I Kathimerini Athens -
Greek Crisis: Euro not out of the woods yet
3 May 201028 Presseurop -
Greek Crisis: Playing poker with the euro
28 April 2010701 La Repubblica Rome -
Greece: Europe’s nightmare coming true?
23 April 2010PresseuropLes Echos -
Greece: Three years to rescue the euro
16 April 2010PresseuropThe Economist -
Greece: Athens’ neighbours anxious about aftermath
12 April 20104 Presseurop -
Greece: Speculators threaten Athens recovery plan
9 April 2010114 Presseurop -
Bulgaria: Welcome the Greeks bearing euros
1 April 2010Standart Sofia -
GREEK CRISIS: The eurodrama is over – for now
26 March 2010Presseurop -
Greece: Time for painful changes
11 February 2010321 Le Figaro Paris -
Greece : Papandreou promises blood, sweat and tears
9 February 2010PresseuropTo Ethnos -
Economic crisis: Tough love for the Greeks
26 January 20103 La Stampa Turin -
Greece: Can the EU put it together again?
15 December 200921 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Greece: After Dubai, is Athens next?
9 December 2009151 Presseurop
That’s not the way to save the euro, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. With their secretive meeting on the Greek crisis, EU finance ministers have gambled away the last confidence of EU citizens in their governments. This must have consequences. 
For several weeks, erroneous information about the Greek economy has been circulated to destabilise Athens. The latest hoax to date was Spiegel Online’s 6 May publication of a report about a secret Eurogroup meeting to discuss Greece’s exit from the euro. The question is: who stood to gain from the crime? 
Electoral revolution in Dublin, paralysing strikes in Athens - Europe's most economically fragile member states are reacting differently to drastic austerity budgets and the EU/IMF bailout. But their fates are intertwined if they wish to emerge from the crisis and have a say in the running of the eurozone, writes an economist. 
The bailout package approved on 2 May by the eurozone countries should keep Greece afloat for the time being. In the longer term, however, the future of the single currency and the governance of the Union remain in jeopardy, warns the European press. 
Governments and markets are playing a dangerous game of poker – to the death. At stake is nothing short of the euro itself, which, under fire from ruthless speculators, is liable to collapse amid the ruins of the Parthenon. And there’s one key player, Germany, whose nationalist strategy may well hasten the single currency's end. 
Several countries are on tenterhooks about the latest developments in the Greek economy, either because their economies are closely bound up with Athens’ or because they fear the Greek crisis will delay their accession to the eurozone.
Market speculation in the past days is endangering Greece's ability to restructure its public finances. By sapping creditor confidence, speculators have made it tougher for Athens to implement the rescue plan approved at the end of March by Eurozone countries and, once again, have put Athens under pressure. 
Hard hit by the recession, the bargain hunting citizens of northern Greece are spending their euros across the border in neighbouring Bulgaria, where business is booming for local traders and dentists. 
On 25 March the eurozone heads of state finally assented to bail out Greece, putting an end to the international psychodrama that had been wearing on for months. And yet the rescue package is far from ideal, with plenty of strings attached, and the wound that has opened up inside the Union will take time to heal, recaps the European press. 
While Europe's 27 member states meet in Brussels to attempt to save the Greek economy, workers have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against a package of austerity measures announced by the government. But in a country where tax fraud is rampant, people will have to accept painful changes if the state is to remain viable. 
Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Greece is proving to be a major headache for the European Union. Writing in La Stampa, economic analyst Franco Bruni argues that to save the credibility of the single currency, the Union needs to centralise policy, even to the point of over-riding national autonomy on economic issues. 
In Berlin and Brussels there is growing doubt over whether Greece can solve its debt problems without external help. If nothing is done, the country risks bankruptcy — with unforeseeable consequences for the European currency. 
Faced with runaway public debt, rampant tax evasion and a gaping hole in the pension coffers, to name just a few national woes, Greece is on the brink of bankruptcy, says the European press. And it fears the repercussions for the euro and a potential domino effect on fiscally shaky countries. Le Portugal plonge à son tour
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Debt crisis: EU to gain 1.3 billion from Portugal bailout
11 May 20111PresseuropPúblico -
Debt crisis: Final rescue before renovation
5 May 201150 Der Standard Vienna -
Eurozone crisis: The dangerous game of bailing out
14 April 2011818 Týždeň Bratislava -
Debt crisis: Dark horizons for bailout Portugal
12 April 2011PresseuropPúblico -
Debt crisis: Portugal – opting for the shipwreck
23 March 20112252 Público Lisbon -
Portugal: A bailout won’t help anyone
11 January 2011842 Jornal de Negócios Lisbon -
Economic crisis: Portugal bonds cross dreaded 7% mark
10 November 2010Presseuropi -
Portugal: Athens domino effect hits Lisbon
28 April 20101 Presseurop -
Portugal: Slow progress to avoid decline
15 February 2010141 La Repubblica Rome
How many failed states will still send out distress calls for help? The new bailout plan meant for Portugal ought to be the last, because Europe is going to have to reorganise the monetary union from top to bottom, says the Standard. 
After Greece and Ireland, now it's Portugal's turn. But isn't helping out indebted countries with the money of other indebted countries going to kill the euro? A Slovak columnist doesn't understand just what the EU is playing at. 
His new austerity plan rejected by parliament, Portuguese PM José Sócrates has resigned on the eve of European Council in Brussels 24/25 March. With elections on the horizon, the country is headed for a destiny similar to that of Greece’s, argues a Público columnist. 
Under pressure from the markets and certain European countries to accept a bailout, José Sócrates’ government must stand firm if it is to restore confidence, insists a Portuguese editorialist. 
Fears that Portugal will follow Greece have been heightened by Standard & Poor's 27 April announcement of a negative outlook on Portuguese debt. With financial speculators closing in, Lisbon is preparing to batten down the hatches in the face of a growing financial storm.
Portugal, along with the other so-called "PIGS" (English acronym for the economic laggards Portugal, Ireland – or Italy –, Greece, Spain), is in a tight spot. But its modest dynamism appears to have shielded it from the worst effects of the economic crisis. 
