THE DEBT emergency has fundamentally altered the European political landscape.
With frail euro zone countries like Ireland propped up by their stronger partners, the battle against the crisis is being fought at great political cost to EU leaders.
In less than two years, the ordeal has already led to the collapse of governments in Ireland, Portugal and Slovakia. It has also prompted an early Spanish election next month in which prime minister José Luis Zapatero is set to lose power.
Silvio Berlusconi hangs by a thread as Italy comes under fire from unforgiving markets. In Greece, prime minister George Papandreou is under constant threat. In prosperous countries like the Netherlands and Finland, the rise of anti-bailout parties has altered the course of elections.
No one is more conscious of that than French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces a difficult re-election campaign next spring. A new threat to France’s triple-A credit rating from Moody’s illustrates the potential of the crisis to spread to supposedly secure countries.
This is the backdrop against which German chancellor Angela Merkel has reluctantly backed a new drive to escalate the campaign against the crisis. It is clear by now, however, that the tension in the euro zone is stretching the concept of European solidarity to the limit.
The authorities are moving quickly to impose much stricter supervision over the fiscal plans of euro zone governments. This raises the prospect of political conflict as Europe seeks to align national policies with the requirements of the wider single currency.
The drama continues.