The chart shows Europe has hit a wall economically speaking. Industrial production is slowing to a halt and inventories are exceeding orders in the Euro zone which is primarily an export driven economy. This news comes at a bad time when internal disputes over bailing out Greece and the other heavily indebted nations of the Union are reaching the boiling point. There is speculation by
some commentators that the European Union will break up over the question of
relinquishing more sovereignty in order to back the Euro currency. Unionists got a boost when the German high court ruled recently that emergency guarantees made to Greece were not unconstitutional, but the jurists warned chancellor Angela Merkle's government that their actions so far were on the
borderline. Future bailouts must have the approval of parliament's budget committee, and no permanent legal mechanisms can be set up to assume liabilities of other countries.
US Person has always considered the EU to be a messy and cumbersome bureaucratic overlay on sovereign governments to achieve a common market for peaceful trade. Despite noble aspirations within its two major national pillars, Germany and France, the EU is not a "United States of Europe". The
latent limitations of a Union of independent economic policies are now apparent as poorer--German critics say profligate--member nations face insolvency. Neither the
leaders of France or Germany are willing to take the ultimate steps to insure financial stability because there is
little support within the Union or
within their own countries for real fiscal merger. But the sovereign
debt crisis contagion is spreading with Italy and now
France experiencing financial problems. Two major French banks heavily involved in derivative trading, Société Général and BNP Paribas, are experiencing credit constrictions as investors pull out previously available capital. Great Britain is no longer the only obstacle to creating a more perfect European Union.
