It is still in one piece. As they relax this Christmas, the architects and guardians of the euro can at least make that claim. Indeed, despite its annus horribilis, the eurozone is about to expand: Estonia will join on January 1, becoming the 17th member. Such is the fruit of ever-closer union. Angela Merkel must be thrilled. What the euro needs is more Germanys. What it gets – an endless queue of them – is more Irelands: small, open, peripheral European economies, not obviously in need of cheap credit, dangerously vulnerable to euro-induced bubbles.
在这个圣诞期间，欧元的构建者和守护者起码可以说，欧元区仍然是一个整体。的确，虽然流年不利，欧元区仍将进一步扩大：爱沙尼亚将在1月1日加入，成为第17个成员国。这是联盟越来越紧密的成果。安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)肯定吓得够呛。欧元区需要的是更多像德国这样的国家，而实际上，排起长队等候加入的国家，却与爱尔兰更为相似：开放的小型欧洲外围manbetx20客户端下载 体，似乎并不需要廉价信贷，但极易受到欧元引发泡沫的冲击。