From one crisis to another
John Wyles, European Voice, 15.12.2011
Quotes
Last week's European Council was supposed to save the eurozone. It made things much, much worse.
Months, if not years, will be needed to get a true perspective on last week's European Council. Perhaps it will be most remembered for David Cameron's extraordinary re-positioning of the UK as a fully sidelined member of the Union? Or perhaps because the eurozone finally added just enough political and financial firepower to its strategy for saving the single currency? Maybe it will be lauded for demonstrating, against the most extreme odds, that the European Union can still navigate its way out of a political minefield? […]
Overall, this analysis may seem to err on the side of gloom, given the range and severity of the measures that may soon underpin the euro. “It is still possible to avert meltdown and this European Council might have increased the chance that the worst scenario can be avoided,” says Janis Emmanouilidis, a senior political analyst at the European Policy Centre. Nevertheless, the eurozone's future path is littered with high explosives. This could still be defused if the European Central Bank steps up to the plate as the eurozone's lender of last resort. Will its president, Mario Draghi, now be persuaded?
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