What begins today looks like a crucial week for the fate of the euro. Not only to understand the feasibility of the launch, advocated by the US and discussed at the G20 and at the heads of the International Monetary Fund, of a 3 trillion euro-saving plan but also for the vote of the German Parliament on Thursday on the bailout fund. But one thing is already clear: the wake-up call that the Americans and emerging countries rang in Europe over the weekend has perhaps also opened the eyes of those who thought that the default of Greece, the contagion of the entire Old Continent and the crisis of the euro were only matter for impalpable academic conferences.
Unfortunately, the harsh law of the calendar is implacable: if by October Greece does not receive the means to pay the interest on its monstrous public debt (200% of GDP), it must declare bankruptcy. And on one of the first Mondays in November there will be a default, with people running to bank branches to withdraw their savings, businesses closing, jobs, wages and pensions going up in smoke or even being cut by more than half. But there's more: Nouriel Roubini may be a catastrophist but he has calculated that if Greece defaults, within three months it will also be Spain and Italy's turn. At Christmas, nothing but panettone and champagne.
Naturally, alarmism is the last thing that is needed, but opening one's eyes and acting immediately is the least one can expect from those with public responsibilities.
However, there is another point that deserves some clarification: the international fund to save the euro or the European fund to save states are fine and the sooner they take off the better. But he has never been seen treating pneumonia with an aspirin. Liquidity helps and buys time, but the origin of Europe's (and the West's) pain has two precise names: public debt and lack of growth. Either we attack the debt and stimulate development or we won't get out of the tunnel. Everyone has to play his part and we Italians have an even more thankless task: to recover lost trust and credibility.
It is disheartening to see the spectacle of a government and a prime minister completely absent from the international scene and concerned only with defending their seat rather than fighting the economic and financial crisis head-on. It is not enough to have a narrow parliamentary majority to govern. Floating, it declines and this time it can even sink.
