Thread: Eurozone : Whisper it softly

The Eurocrisis is elsewhere : Contrary to predictions ( this year again) from large parts of the anglophone press that it was allegedly about to enter recession the german economy has defied the "Eurocrisis" in 2012 as well. Exports rose to the biggest level EVER ( market decreases in Southern Europe were more than compensated by rising orders from emerging economies as well as the US), governement books turned to surplus, the labour market showed no signs of cracking down ( labour shortages are more and more filled by workers from the current crisis nations, Spanish, Portuguese, Greeks and Italians), and the trade surplus that the country achieved is the biggest since 1950. Which is less germano-centric bias than important news for the entire Eurozone, for which Germany functions as an economic engine, largest or second largest export market, investor, trade partner and also an indicator for things going up or down.....


Germany's trade surplus rises to second highest level since 1950 | Business | guardian.co.uk


But also in Southern Europe some things are changing :

The euro-zone crisis: Time to celebrate? | The Economist


Which is why it is not surprising that hard (Germans)-and soft currency ( France) Europeans are currently fighting over the strength of the Euro ( versus Pound and Dollar), which is quite surprising for a currency allegedly on the brink of collapse ( that plenty of "experts" from across the pond, from Krugman till Soros, have declared dead in weeks or months during 2012), right ?



Eurozone crisis: Hollande stands alone | Presseurop (English)



Which is not say that Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal were out of the woods already ( especially with Italian elections coming up in which Berlusconi is running, and the spanish ruling party under corruption allegations). But that things are far from being as bleak as they are painted in plenty of anglophone papers. A country with higher debt and deficit than even the worst performing members of the Eurozone ( and tumbling on the edge of a triple-dip recession) is by the way : non-Euro Britain. Which may explain part of the motivation to paint others as allegedly worse......

I've always thought Europe would survive this current unfortunate situation as we've been through worse.
The doom-mongers in America have been predicting the downfall of all of Europe not just the Eurozone for quite some time because they can then claim it's a vindication of their own antipathy towards public health and strong public services.