Euro expansion

• On May 9, the European leaders finally did something about Greece.
• Recognising that the country was seriously illiquid — and may be close to insolvent — they agreed to set up the European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF.
• it had to be painfully ratified by all 17 eurozone countries
• It remains unclear where that money will come from.
• This crisis has painfully exposed the holes in the European project that many have warned of since the time that greater integration began to become a reality.
• The painfully slow pace of decision-making makes the complex system of European capitalism less able than others to react quickly to crises.
• the decision to prioritise the coordination of "technocratic" monetary policy, via a common currency and central bank, while allowing few effective constraints on domestic fiscal policy, has been shown up for the economic fiction it always was.
• The German chancellor and the European commission are also arguing about how to expand the decision-making powers of the centralised Council of States.
• in the midst of crisis, Europe appears to be learning its lessons.
• European Parliament voted early this week to impose compulsory fines on those member-states that broke rules limiting their fiscal deficits and debt.