Analysis: Out of intensive care, Europe risks chronic illness

(Reuters) - The euro zone is out of the emergency ward, but it may face a chronic debilitating illness rather than a rapid convalescence.

Euro crisis deepens as ratings agency strikes

The eurozone economy plunged back into crisis as France and Austria were stripped of their top triple-A credit ratings and Standard and Poor's downgraded a swathe of debt-laden EU members.

Euro crisis: “the EU is setting itself up for failure”

In a lengthy article posted at Crooked Timber, John Quiggin and Henry Farrell argue that

By concentrating on its economic problems but ignoring their political consequences, the EU is setting itself up for failure. The case for austerity does not make sense. And if the EU fails to deal with the political fallout of its own institutional weaknesses, it is going to collapse. No political body can force voters to repeatedly shoulder the costs of adjustment on their own and expect to remain legitimate. During the gold standard, nation-states tried this and failed—and they had considerably more authority than the EU has today. Hard Keynesianism offers a means to combine fiscal discipline with flexibility in order to cushion the political costs of adjustment in times of economic stress. EU leaders must institute it in a hurry.