Europe’s adventure begins. The Holy Roman Empire: European disunion done right. SUMMITS were more fun in those days. When Ferdinand III, the Habsburg monarch of the Holy Roman Empire, arrived in Regensburg, the Brussels of its time, in late 1652, he brought 60 musicians and three dwarves. There were sleigh rides, fireworks and the first Italian opera ever performed in Germanic lands. Aside from that, the Reichstag (imperial diet) was much like today’s European Council, the gathering for leaders of the member states.
The emperor arrived with a retinue of 3,000 people to meet the empire’s princes, bishops, margraves and other assorted VIPs. They negotiated for more than a year. By the time Ferdinand left again for Vienna, with 164 ships floating down the Danube, quite a lot had transpired. Precisely what that was, however, has been a matter of passionate dispute among historians ever since, with special relevance today. But there is a revisionist view. By this reading, EU leaders today need not fear a “looser union”. A brief one-millennium recap The first Eurocrats. New Eurozone Rescue Fund Launched. The eurozone's permanent bailout fund has been launched at a Luxembourg meeting of the finance ministers from the 17-state group. The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will have a full lending capacity of 500 billion euros ($650 billion) by 2014.
Countries will start making their first payments into the fund this week. The fund will be used to support struggling economies in return for strict fiscal and structural reforms. The ESM will initially run alongside and then replace the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Its inauguration on October 8 comes amid increasing uncertainty over Greece's bailout and anticipation that Spain will also seek financial aid. The EFSF has already lent 190 billion euros to Greece, Ireland, and Portugal.
There are concerns that the ESM's 500-billion-euro reserves will not be enough to save the eurozone. Athens Braces For Protests Many Greeks blame Merkel for forcing them to accept harsh austerity measures in exchange for an EU-IMF bailout deal. Currencies: The weak shall inherit the earth. The euro crisis: Getting worse more slowly isn't good enough. The euro crisis: Game change? Charlemagne: SimEurope.