Diagnosis

Europe’s North-South Divide Pulling the Euro Apart

The tension between north and south is pulling it apart.

World opinion this week cast Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who survived a risky confidence vote but now says he will resign, as a rogue insisting on putting the euro’s future in the hands of his angry voters. The hysteria revealed the real fault line in European politics, writes The Daily Beast’s Stefan Theil—a rocky marriage between the opposing interests of the poor countries of the south and the wealthy nations of the north. “Imagine 27 Barack Obamas and John Boehners trying to get a debt and banking crisis under control." In The Washington Post, George Zarkadakis says Greece is collapsing under the weight of its ancient reputation: “The Greek financial crisis is a crisis of identity as much as anything else.”