Free Republic

Germany has triggered a near-panic flight from southern European debt markets by warning that there will be no EU bail-outs, even though it fears the region's economic crisis has turned dangerous and could prove "fatal" for the entire eurozone. The yield on 10-year Greek bonds blasted upwards by over 40 basis points to 7.15pc in a day of wild trading. Spreads over German Bunds reached almost four percentage points, by far the highest since Greece joined the euro, and close to levels that risk a self-feeding spiral. Contagion hit Portuguese, Spanish, Irish, and Italian bonds. George Papandreou, the Greek premier,...

Despite all the Cassandras, the Euro currency physically introduced at the beginning of the year, seems to work. After a brief tour across the EU visiting friends and relatives, i observed ordinary citiziens managing thier new coins,banknotes and cheques as if those had always been their money. Most haven't yet relegated to the book of memories the old national currency, infact it is common to discuss prices of goods and properties in marks, liras and so on. But even the relatively regretful Germans are sure the changeover had been a no-return move. Germans tourists find extremely useful to vacation southern...