The spigot is opening wider.  Now that the German government has acceded to expanding the EU’s bailout fund beyond €800 billion ($1 trillion), the French are demanding even further expansion.

With convoluted logic, French Finance Minister François Baroin is now demanding that the bailout fund must be increased to €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion), to shore up market confidence and “prevent contagion.”  After all, he says,

The firewall, it’s a little like the nuclear option in military planning, it’s there for dissuasion, not to be used[.]

Writing in Spiegel Online International, Wolfgang Kaden offers stern medicine for the present Greek crisis.  His thesis is stated at the outset:

It’s time to reinstate national autonomy—and responsibility—for determining financial policies and honoring treaties.

He goes on:

The euro has been a major experiment.  A (current) total of 17 countries with many things in common—but also many differences, such as their economies, politics, histories and ways of life—have embraced a common currency.  Contrary to the expectations of many (including myself), these differences have not grown smaller over the years.  Unfortunately, there is no reason to expect that such increased harmonization might occur in the foreseeable future.