Eurotrashed

In a letter to today's International Herald Tribune, Former US ambassador Alfred Kingon summarises the situation facing the euro and the EU:

When I was the United States ambassador to the European Union (then the European Communities) in the late ’80s, as preparation for the advent of the euro was taking place, the crosscurrents were strong and visible. It couldn’t possibly succeed, as predicted by many, without a finance ministry for all of Europe, not possible then or foreseeable now.

A real look at European debt, which is far greater than the narrowly reported official deficits, bodes badly. Bailouts are being affected by the imposition of rising and unsustainable interest rates. Just look at recent bond yields in Portugal, Ireland and Greece. And what will happen when more onerous austerity programs are initiated to meet new budgetary targets? Will the E.U. survive? Of course it will. It has succeeded in quelling thousands of years of internal warfare. But the euro and current E.U. structure — well, that’s another matter.

Spot on.