A two-pronged defence of the Euro

The current weakness of the Euro against the US dollar is not just the result of the different economic and interest rate outlook in Europe and the USA but also reflects the greater scepticism of the financial markets towards the management of the crisis in Europe. This scepticism is comprehensible. While in the past two years there was hope that Europe would still come up with a comprehensive approach to solving the crisis in the end, this led to disillusionment in the second half of 2011. There does not currently seem to be any comprehensive approach to a solution which seems to be politically and legally achievable.

Eurobonds are no longer a solution at the current point in time. It is true that there are numerous coherent proposals which cleverly combine community safeguards and conditionality. But the advocates of community responsibility, to which I belong, must acknowledge that it has not been possible to win the political debate in Germany for the time being. In addition, the constitutional obstacles have been clearly set out since the judgement of the federal constitutional court on the EFSF. If one denies these developments, one would be out of touch with reality.