For all her fiery language in defence of the euro - as if a currency trading so high against the yuan, dollar, and sterling could be under meaningful external attack - Chancellor Angela Merkel has not yet agreed to pay one cent in help to crippled debtor states. Nor has she faced up to the elemental question hanging over monetary union.
Her own Bundesbank argued years ago that EMU is unworkable without fiscal union, and it has been vindicated by the events of the past two years. Either creditor states agree to an EU treasury, 'Transferunion' and debt pool, or EMU will be subject to unending stress and ultimately fracture or shrink to a viable core, or so goes the argument."