Europe’s growing prosperity gap Outside the Box - MarketWatch

"The Franco-German plan, which would force members of the European Union to coordinate many social and economic policies like retirement ages and debt limits that have traditionally been dictated by individual nations, was immediately panned by the zone’s smaller countries. France and Germany have since signaled a willingness to address some of the concerns of their European brethren.

As they work out the details, European leaders must recognize that simply restoring the balance sheets of the continent’s ailing economies will not save the euro zone. If EU policy makers are to have any hope of preserving the common currency, they must also address Europe’s prosperity gap."

Krækja; Europe’s growing prosperity gap Outside the Box - MarketWatch

ekathimerini.com | Ireland, Greece: brothers in arms?

"The past week provided two very different expressions of citizens’ frustrations in Greece and Ireland, the two members of the European Union at the forefront of the year-long sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone.

While Irish voters in Dublin, Cork and Limerick went to the polls, Greek citizens in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patra vented their anger by staging a week of industrial action, culminating in Wednesday’s 24-hour nationwide general strike. While people voted with their hands in one country, citizen exercised their rights with their feet and fists in the other."

Krækja - gríska Kathimerini: ekathimerini.com | Ireland, Greece: brothers in arms?:

AFP: Europe races to meet 'Mad March' debt deadline

"Eurozone paymaster Germany won't guarantee its backing unless Berlin wins concessions on how other nations govern their finances first. Germany, supported by France, wants to reform everything from pensions to business taxation across the 17-nation eurozone in particular. . . .

Krækja: AFP: Europe races to meet 'Mad March' debt deadline