Eurozone: A year of fighting debt
Jack Barton, CCTV (Chinese TV), 27.10.2012
Interview on the perspectives for the Eurozone. Parts of the interview were shown by the Chinese broadcasting company CCTV.
"Friday marks the first anniversary of a major EU agreement to fight sovereign debt in the Eurozone.
In Spain the unemployment rate passed 25 percent on Friday still not as bad as Greece, where soup kitchens like these have become a common sight.
It looks like little has improved exactly one year after Brussels boosted the firepower of the old bailout fund, ordered the recapitalization of banks and forced private investors to accept a 50 percent write down on their Greek bonds.
But those measures along with the European Central Bank’s guarantee to be a lender of last resort have convinced policy experts that at least fears of a Euro area breakup are over.
Janis Emmanouilidis, Senior Analyst of European Policy Center, said, "There are different things that have happened over the last weeks, months and year, which makes one more confident that on a systemic level the Eurozone crisis seems to be in a better situation. The Euro the currency seems to be not any longer threatened by an implosion as maybe it was before this summer".
But serious challenges remain.
"You do not have a clear answer to the Spanish question, the Greek crisis is still looming". Janis Emmanouilidis said. […]
See original text and TV clip here.
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