Financial markets are showing no sign of dropping frenzied antipathy to risk and, with a Group of Seven meeting in Marseilles failing to pull off a major surprise, the mood will likely spill into the new week.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/09/11/uk-markets-global-weekahead-idUKTRE78A1C020110911
Europe’s leaders believe they can stave off economic disaster without taking real action. They keep pretending that they will not have to ask taxpayers to help shore up fragile banks, that ever larger doses of austerity will let weak economies like Greece pay off their debts, and that Europe can continue to reap the benefits of monetary union without the shared responsibilities of greater fiscal union.
No one else believes this — not credit markets, which have bid up interest rates on sovereign debt; not the International Monetary Fund, which has warned repeatedly that major banks appear undercapitalized; and not the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which last week forecast negative growth in the coming quarter for Germany, France and Italy, the euro zone’s three biggest economies.
The immediate fear is that one or more major European banks may fail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/europes-fiscal-fantasies.html
No one else believes this — not credit markets, which have bid up interest rates on sovereign debt; not the International Monetary Fund, which has warned repeatedly that major banks appear undercapitalized; and not the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which last week forecast negative growth in the coming quarter for Germany, France and Italy, the euro zone’s three biggest economies.
The immediate fear is that one or more major European banks may fail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/europes-fiscal-fantasies.html
CANBERRA: France on Sunday staked the future of the European Union on the fate of the euro, saying the economic and political union at the heart of Europe would be at risk if the single currency were allowed to be torn apart by the region's sovereign debt crisis.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe gave a frank assessment on Sunday of the consequences of a disintegration of the euro, telling reporters on a visit to Australia that EU mainstays France and Germany were both committed to preventing this.
"We certainly cannot allow the sole currency to fall apart because falling apart would apply also to Europe as a whole," Juppe said through his own interpreter in Canberra.
"The sole currency cannot really function unless there is economic power and European government as such around the euro zone."
http://tinyurl.com/3tx4kc7
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe gave a frank assessment on Sunday of the consequences of a disintegration of the euro, telling reporters on a visit to Australia that EU mainstays France and Germany were both committed to preventing this.
"We certainly cannot allow the sole currency to fall apart because falling apart would apply also to Europe as a whole," Juppe said through his own interpreter in Canberra.
"The sole currency cannot really function unless there is economic power and European government as such around the euro zone."
http://tinyurl.com/3tx4kc7
CHRIS UHLMANN: So, in order to run a common currency you need a common fiscal policy?
JOSE BARROSO: Or at least a more integrated fiscal policy, a more integrated economic policy, yes.
CHRIS UHLMANN: So a United States of Europe?
JOSE BARROSO: I like very much the concept, but it will not be United States of Europe like United States of America. But certainly a more integrated European Union or at least a more integrated euro area, and that is precise debate that is taking place now in Europe.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-05/jose-manuel-barroso-joins-730/2872226?section=world
JOSE BARROSO: Or at least a more integrated fiscal policy, a more integrated economic policy, yes.
CHRIS UHLMANN: So a United States of Europe?
JOSE BARROSO: I like very much the concept, but it will not be United States of Europe like United States of America. But certainly a more integrated European Union or at least a more integrated euro area, and that is precise debate that is taking place now in Europe.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-05/jose-manuel-barroso-joins-730/2872226?section=world
José Manuel Durão Barroso President of the European Commission The European Economy and New Zealand New Zealand – Europe Business Council Auckland
The question some like to ask these days is “will the Euro and the EU survive?” My plain and direct answer is “yes!” You can bet your money on that – dollars or euros – and I guarantee you don’t need to take insurance!
The Eurozone has been a force for good in Europe and the world; it is worth defending. More than that, what many observers fail to remember, is that in the past when the EU has faced a crisis it has always deepened integration as a response. That is where the debate is at today. It is a strong debate about how much more do we integrate, but no-one is seriously proposing to undo achievements like our common currency.
So please be assured by these facts. The fundamental point remains that the European Union works. It has worked for sixty years as a driver of peace and prosperity and necessary compromise. The European Union has developed into the most advanced and most successful experiment of sharing sovereignty. And given that no country is big enough to deal with today’s challenges on its own, the need for a European Union will always be there.
http://tinyurl.com/6hsrtdj
Euro's troubles help make it stronger
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10750706
Q+A Jose Barroso interview transcript
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/jose-barroso-interview-transcript-4395674
Barroso: Crisis fuelling integration
The process of European integration is an irreversible one and the current debt crisis will only propel it further, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10750418
The question some like to ask these days is “will the Euro and the EU survive?” My plain and direct answer is “yes!” You can bet your money on that – dollars or euros – and I guarantee you don’t need to take insurance!
The Eurozone has been a force for good in Europe and the world; it is worth defending. More than that, what many observers fail to remember, is that in the past when the EU has faced a crisis it has always deepened integration as a response. That is where the debate is at today. It is a strong debate about how much more do we integrate, but no-one is seriously proposing to undo achievements like our common currency.
So please be assured by these facts. The fundamental point remains that the European Union works. It has worked for sixty years as a driver of peace and prosperity and necessary compromise. The European Union has developed into the most advanced and most successful experiment of sharing sovereignty. And given that no country is big enough to deal with today’s challenges on its own, the need for a European Union will always be there.
http://tinyurl.com/6hsrtdj
Euro's troubles help make it stronger
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10750706
Q+A Jose Barroso interview transcript
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/jose-barroso-interview-transcript-4395674
Barroso: Crisis fuelling integration
The process of European integration is an irreversible one and the current debt crisis will only propel it further, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10750418
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