At a meeting in Rome last Thursday, the heads of state of Germany, France, Spain and Italy agreed on steps towards a banking union and a modest stimulus package to complement the fiscal compact. But Angela Merkel resisted all proposals to provide relief to Spain and Italy from the excessive risk premiums prevailing in the market. This threatens to turn the EU summit this week into a fiasco that may well prove fatal because it will leave the rest of the eurozone without a strong enough firewall to protect it against the possibility of a Greek exit.
在上周四的罗马会议上，德国、法国、西班牙、意大利四国政府首脑就银行业联盟的成立步骤以及与财政契约相配合的温和刺激方案达成了协议。但德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)拒绝接受任何有关向西班牙和意大利提供救助的提议，听任这两个国家遭受市场中大行其道的过高风险溢价拖累。默克尔的强硬态度可能导致本周的欧盟峰会沦为一场彻底的失败，其后果可能是致命的——因为如果欧盟峰会一事无成，欧元区其他成员国将缺少一道足够坚固的防火墙来应对可能发生的希腊退出。