October 25, 2011
European leaders “have risen to the challenge,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed their July 21 summit a “historic turning point” and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker called it the “final package, of course,” to put out the debt inferno.
Then they went on vacation. Before they returned to work, the deal fizzled.
The euro’s stewards are back in Brussels tomorrow for an emergency summit struggling to heed the world’s calls to once and for all extinguish what U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner called the “catastrophic risk” of the debt crisis. A potential Greek default threatens shockwaves that could engulf Italy and France, jolt the banking system and spell havoc for the global economy.
“Buck up, this crisis is going to be with us still for a while,” Barry Eichengreen, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt. “I fear they’re not going to take the kind of steps tomorrow to resolve it.”
The gathering marks the interim climax to six days of haggling among finance ministers, central and commercial bankers, chancellors and prime ministers over the shape of Greece’s second bailout, the recapitalization of banks and the retooling of the 440 billion-euro ($612 billion) rescue fund into a more potent weapon.
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