by Paul Hannon
Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2011
Now for some rare good news from Europe. The governments of Latvia, Iceland and Romania all sold bonds to private investors last week. The significance of that development lies in the fact that they were the first European nations to be laid low by the global financial crisis, and were forced to seek external financial help from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
All three have therefore completed a bond-market journey that European policy makers are hoping will be available to Greece, Ireland and Portugal—from pariah to solid citizen. Indeed, Latvia provided the icing on the cake, declaring that it wouldn't be drawing down funds available from the EU and the IMF, at least for now.
It already seems clear that in the case of Greece, this trajectory won't be replicated, and it seems unlikely Ireland and Portugal will manage it in anything like the same time frame. Indeed, it may be that Greece's failure to make this journey will render it impossible for Ireland and Portugal.
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