Crucial Eurogroup teleconference on the currency

With markets clearly showing their future moves, already having their next “victims” in their sight and deadlock knocking on the Eurozone door, the amount and intensity of the efforts to avoid this situation are unprecedented.  
The only difference is that it is really hard to mend the broken relations inside the EU, as public announcements/attacks against Germany are multiplying. And so long as this happening, the speculators are fuelled by those who were supposed to fighting for European cohesion and the welfare of the «United States of Europe» experiment.

At the epicenter of all that has been publicised in the last few hours, are the speculations for the future of the euro – which has plummeted to 1,323 dollars – and the cohesion of the Eurozone.
 
The optimists…

It is fact that Jean-Claude Trichet, administrator of ECB, has come to an open breach with the German – and secondarily the French – political and economic leadership. But his position requires that he supports the currency and the EU and this is why he never fails to mention that the euro will emerge stronger from this crisis.  
His alleged successor, German central banker and board member of ECB Alex Weber, expresses the same thoughts. He has stated that he is «convinced the euro will survive» and «we must not let the markets doubt this».

The head of the European Stabilisation Mechanism, German born Klaus Regling, seems to be equally optimistic. He believes that the risk of rupture in the EU is non-existent and goes on to predict that no country will abandon the euro of its own volition. He is obviously referring to the scenario that has Germany leaving the euro, a scenario that for the last 24 hours has become a debate issue in large news agencies, with Bloomberg inserting a segment in its morning program in which leading economists and analysts present their views and predictions on the matter.

Joining the optimists' ranks is Angel Gurria, secretary of OECD, who states declares that the euro has a long life ahead of it and that the Eurozone will keep on expanding until it becomes the largest trading bloc in the world. 

At the same time, similar views are put forth by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has called for a «unifying trading zone» from the Portuguese coast on the Atlantic to Vladivostok…

On his part, Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker, might not be bothered about the survival of the euro or the EU, but he is deeply concerned about Germany’s will/disposition to keep on the euro track.  
…and the pessimists

On the other hand there are those who have not yet entered the Eurozone and express their various opinions from a safe standpoint. For example, Mar Gudmundsson, director of the Central Bank of Iceland, has stated in a BBC interview that for his country «euro participation remains a good choice despite the debt crisis». Iceland of course is already bankrupt so what is the worst that could happen?

In contrast, the finance minister of Slovakia, Ivan Mikloš has said that «the euro is facing serious challenges and a possible dissolution is the worst case scenario.»

Regardless of what everyone else is saying, today’s «big boss», German Chancellor Angela Merkel, continues to «toy» with the endurance (or the tolerance even?) of her partners and the markets. On Wednesday she said that the euro is at a crucial point, while two days later she declared that she has more confidence now than the previous spring that the EU will emerge stronger from these transitions. And she pledged that Germany will continue to promote a strong euro so that «no country in the Eurozone would face a moratorium»!

In any case the situation is so serious that the ministers of Economy in the EU will hold an emergency teleconference Eurogroup on Sunday. So we await further announcements…