It is time to face facts: markets are not just betting against the euro but testing the European project itself. Tuesday’s Franco-German summit showed that the more leaders repeat outdated nostrums – such as the impossibility of eurobonds – the less they are believed. The Merkel-Sarkozy proposals were an attempt to paper over differences (with Germanic prudence on eurobonds and debt ceilings balancing Gallic pressure for economic governance) and buy time, but the past few months have shown that this piecemeal approach will simply increase the cost of a long-term solution. To save itself, the European Union must stop seeking loopholes and attacking symptoms, and instead grapple seriously with its fundamental design faults.
是時候直面事實了：市場不只是在看空歐元，也在考驗歐洲一體化計劃本身。上週二的法德最高領導人會晤顯示，領導人物越是重複那些過時的「靈丹妙藥」——比如不可能發行歐元債券，他們的話就越沒人信。默克爾(Merkel)和薩科吉(Sarkozy)提出的建議旨在掩蓋分歧（德國對於歐元債券和債務上限的謹慎態度，平衡了法國在歐元區經濟治理問題上施加的壓力）和贏得時間，但過去幾個月的經驗表明，這種零敲碎打的方式只能增加長遠解決方案的成本。要想自救，歐盟(EU)必須停止查詢漏洞和攻擊表面病症，而是應當認真應對自身的根本設計缺陷。