European Debt Crisis
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In this documentary, Wall Street Journal editors and reporters examine the origins of Europe's debt crisis and why it spread with such ferocity to engulf much of the continent and threaten the entire world.
Video - The Euro crisis that began in Greece spread like contagion throughout the region - WSJ.com
The circle below shows the gross external, or foreign, debt of some of the main players in the eurozone as well as other big world economies. The arrows show how much money is owed by each country to banks in other nations. The arrows point from the debtor to the creditor and are proportional to the money owed as of the end of June 2011. The colours attributed to countries are a rough guide to how much trouble each economy is in. Click on a country name to see who they owe
BBC News - Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom?
Coal, Steel, and the Euro - NYTimes.com
January 2, 2011, 8:18 am The road to the euro began with coal and steel. Here’s Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, in 1950, proposing the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community :
Extreme Measures: The Euro Breaks Up - WSJ.com
Some economists are convinced that the euro zone will have to break up. The fundamental problem, they say, is that some countries have become deeply uncompetitive inside the euro, because their labor and other business costs have risen faster than in more efficient economies such as Germany. Reintroducing a national currency would allow a country to lower its exchange rate, making its goods more affordable in the rest of Europe.
A debt default by a euro member or two—also known as a restructuring when that is done after talking with creditors—requires much less imagination to believe in than a breakup of the euro zone, many observers agree. Cutting the debt burden could haul drowning countries back onto dry land. Greece, Ireland and Portugal, when demonstrably solvent again, could even return to the bond markets, although to win back investors, they might have to pay higher interest rates than they did ...
Debt Restructuring: - WSJ.com
Closer Fiscal Union: - WSJ.com
Debt restructuring could be one part of the longer-term resolution of the crisis, together with a move toward deeper European integration to harness the region's collective strength. Viewed as a whole, the 16-nation euro zone is one of the financially healthier parts of the Western world. The bloc is on course for a budget deficit of just 6.3% of gross domestic product this year, compared with 11.3% in the U.S. and 10.5% in the U.K. The euro zone's total public debts are headed for 84% of GDP this year, compared with 92% ...
Europe's leaders endorsed plans for a new fund to rescue indebted euro-zone countries, and proposed treaty changes to make that possible, but failed to resolve deepening disagreements over whether more radical action is needed to quell a debt crisis that has raged on the region's fringe for more than a year. What's Next: Possible Paths for Europe Meeting in Brussels for the final 2010 summit, European Union leaders agreed to replace the region's emergency rescue fund, which ends in 2013, with a permanent crisis-finance program. But the crisis gripping the weaker governments of the euro zone showed no signs of abating. On Thursday, Spain was forced to offer significantly higher interest rates at a debt auction Thursday than it paid just a month ago.
EU Endorses Bailout Fund, Amid Discord - WSJ.com
