The debt drama in Washington stirred a jumble of emotions in Europe. Cold fear that a US default could tip the world back into a slump jostled with schadenfreude as Europeans recalled the stern American lectures on their handling of the euro crisis. The eurozone may be dysfunctional, but so too is the US. Humility is called for: the eurozone has danced the edge of the economic precipice for three years. The latest episode in America’s fiscal tragicomedy ran for three weeks.
By the end, a last-minute deal looked as inevitable as have been Germany’s 11th-hour decisions to underwrite the single currency. If the US economy had fallen over the cliff, the Republicans would have gone with it. Some of the Tea Party crowd were ready to take the leap, but enough Republicans recoiled from the idea of collective suicide.
As with the myriad euro fixes, the debt ceiling deal is temporary and conditional. The eurozone no longer faces existential crisis, but a recent spluttering of economic growth cannot be counted a recovery. The eurozone still lacks a scheme that melds national responsibility with mutual solidarity. In Washington, likewise, disaster has been averted, but President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans will soon return to the fight.