Tribune | 15/07/2011 

In recent days the chances of a lasting settlement of Greece’s financial crisis have seemed to evaporate. The sovereign debts of Portugal, Italy and Spain are coming under increasingly determined attack from the markets. The public and private negotiators looking for a solution are making no progress. There are numerous reasons for this impotence: the recent brutal fall in Portugal’s debt rating; the German government’s difficulty in overcoming political – and perhaps constitutional – obstacles; and the failure of a plan by high-profile financial figures due to a lack of support.

These explanations can be reduced to a single one – the absence of a clear vision on the part of politicians willing to risk their reputations to overcome short-term difficulty.

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This text is also signed by Gilles de Margerie and Stéphane Boujnah for "En Temps Réel" ; Yves Bertoncini for "Notre Europe".

This article was picked up by various media and / or French and European blogs: Les échos, France 2 et France 3, Le Soir et La Libre Belgique, Telecinco, L'usine nouvelle, Boursorama...

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