For once, Mario Monti had a sympathetic audience — dozens of European officials he mingled with and presided over during a 10-year European Commission career that, by the looks of it, he will remember more fondly than the 15 months...
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Photograph by Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images
Monti’s Virtue vs. Germany’s Vices
Today in Euro Crisis History: Once Upon a Time
February 27, 1953 Sixty years ago today, 20 countries including Greece, Spain, and Italy signed the Agreement on German External Debts that forgave half of Germany’s pre- and post-war debt (with some exceptions) to encourage German economic reemergence and development...
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Photograph by Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Italy’s Vote Was Bersani’s to Lose, and He Almost Pulled It Off
The Italian elections were his to lose, and Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani did a really good job of almost doing just that. Bersani, a former communist who backed Prime Minister Mario Monti’s technical government, squandered a 15-point poll...
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Peer Steinbrueck at an Ash Wednesday political event Feb. 13, 2013
Steinbrueck Goes Peer-Shaped in Brussels
Peer Steinbrueck made a German campaign cameo in Brussels today and left everyone wondering how he would manage the crisis differently than the woman he is trying to oust in next fall’s German federal election, Chancellor Angela Merkel. Steinbrueck made...
Read more »Today in Euro Crisis History: Annals of Soothsaying
February 19, 2009 Roubini Says a Sovereign May ‘Crack’ Amid Crisis Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global credit crisis, said a “sovereign may crack” as officials try to bail out their financial systems. Europe’s debt...
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Pope, Music Festival May Have Clipped Berlusconi’s Poll Momentum
Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation and the popular San Remo music festival may have clipped some of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s momentum in the campaign for Italy’s end-of-month election amid a blackout on opinion polls. Pope Benedict’s Feb. 11...
Read more »Today in Euro Crisis History: Dept. of Diversions
February 18, 2011 JPMorgan Says It Was Tricked Into Keeping Lehman’s ‘Goat Poo’ Collateral Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. tricked JPMorgan Chase & Co. into holding onto collateral that the bankrupt investment firm internally described as “goat poo,” according to a...
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Draghi Dismisses Currency Spat as More Jaw Than War
Mario Draghi says the currency war is phoney. According to the European Central Bank president, there’s been too much “chatter” in the past two weeks about fluctuations in global currencies, set off by a decision by Japan’s central bank to...
Read more »Today in Euro Crisis History: Department of Rewrites
February 15, 2010 Juncker Says Greek Finances Are Internal Greek Problem Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the euro group of ministers, said Greece is “responsible” for budget consolidation and the country’s difficulties are an “internal problem.” Europe’s debt crisis only...
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Calls for Spanish Premier to Quit Echo Attacks That Made Aznar
Spain’s socialist opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba is trying to make the most of graft allegations against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. His campaign to get Rajoy to quit brings back memories of when the Socialist Party was ejected from power...
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