sovereign debt crisis

We are now in another existential crisis for the euro zone with yields on sovereign debt from Spain and Italy spiking well over 6%. We have been here before, most recently in November. Then, it was Italy in Spain's position as the lead…

The EU informal summit will be held over a dinner and despite the attention it is receiving, it still seems unreasonable to expect anything concrete. Today's informal EU summit is not the real thing. It is out of the late June summit that a…

Euro zone bond markets have come completely unhinged this morning. Spanish 10-year yields have hit the highest level this year at 6.5%. While Italian 10-year yields broke above 6% for the first time since late January. Meanwhile, German…

Ever more voices are talking about the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone despite the fact that there is no formal mechanism for a euro are member country to exit the single currency. This talk, however, makes sense because…

The long-held view in German policy circles has been that the European sovereign debt crisis is a clear indication that the stability and growth pact (SGP) was not sufficiently robust in addressing fiscal discipline. The ECB is now…

This chart was attached to a very good front page article in today's Wall Street Journal by Marcus Walker on How a Radical Greek Rescue Plan Fell Short. The article gives a blow-by-blow account on how the Greek crisis has unfolded and a…

The evidence is becoming increasingly clear that German policy makers are prepared for Greece to exit the euro zone. Knowing this changes how one should view the likely policy responses in Europe. In the short term, this means allowing more…

Earlier this week I wrote a post called "Europe edges closer to the endgame" in reaction to the French and Greek elections. Today I want to expand on this for the weekly members' post. While I think we are finally arriving at the…

Mindless austerity is losing policy credibility in some Eurozone nations. This column suggests governments shouldn’t mix long-term growth and fiscal discipline nor produce another Lisbon strategy. Instead, they should adopt a framework for…

Nationalism is rising throughout Europe as we are expecting far-right parties to now enter parliaments in greece and france to add to the fringe parties in Finland, Austria and the Netherlands. In Germany, the Piratenpartei, another fringe…