Chapter 7. Europe: The Logic of Contagion
We have to be able to stop the financial markets. We have the instruments of torture in the basement.
—Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and president of the Eurogroup, 2010
The Eurozone sovereign debt crisis erupted in spring 2010 and brought down a series of European governments which had desperately taken on their banks’ debts in an attempt to deal with the financial crisis. It also revealed deep flaws in the structure of the Eurozone.
In May 2010, Athens erupted in riots. Greeks had reason for rage, as their politicians had let them down. Their government was indebted, and the new Prime Minister George Papandreou had recently admitted that its deficit was not between 6 and 8 percent ...
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