NationalPlatform.Org

www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,695245,00.html
05/18/2010 03:54 PM
Former Central Bank Head Karl Otto Pöhl
Bailout Plan Is All About ‘Rescuing Banks and Rich Greeks’

The 750 billion euro package the European Union passed last week to prop up the common currency has been heavily criticized in Germany. Former Bundesbank head Karl Otto Pöhl told SPIEGEL that Greece may ultimately have to opt out, and that the foundation of the euro has been fundamentally weakened.

www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=109323
The slow demise of Europe’s single currency looks certain
MATTHEW LYNN
Business Day / Bloomberg
2010/05/19

THE time for tough decisions is here. In the next few months, the members of the euro area will have to make a choice: form a genuine fiscal and political union or let the euro die a slow death.

The European Union (EU) realises the Greek crisis has revealed great flaws in the common currency. There is no point trying to fudge it. The euro can be rescued only by a sweeping centralisation of control over tax and spending.

There’s just one snag: a single economic government for the euro area is not going to work. The surrender of national sovereignty is too great. The timing is all wrong. And there is still no realistic mechanism for enforcing whatever new rules are made in Frankfurt or Brussels.