A group of almost 100 prominent Europeans delivered an open letter to the leaders of all 17 eurozone countries on Wednesday. The letter said, in so many words, what the leaders of Europe now appear to have understood: they cannot go on “kicking the can down the road”. The road has been blocked by the German constitutional court which has found the law establishing the European financial stability fund constitutional, but declared that no further transfers are allowed without Bundestag authorisation. The leaders have also understood that it is not enough to ensure that governments can finance their debt at reasonable interest rates, they must also do something about the banking system.
上周三，大约100名欧洲知名人士联名发表了一封致欧元区17国领导人的公开信。信中直截了当地道出了欧洲领导人似乎现在已经认识到的一个事实：他们再也不能继续“拖延时间”了。这条路已被德国宪法法庭堵死了——该法庭虽然裁定欧洲金融稳定安排(EFSF)符合宪法规定，但也宣布除非得到德国联邦议院(Bundestag)的批准，否则德国不得再提供援助。欧洲领导人也清楚，仅仅保障各国政府以较低的利率为债务融资是不够的，他们必须对银行系统采取行动。