For years, policy makers have been able to get their own way and pretend that fiscal constraints, laws of economics, and mathematics simply do not exist.” In his description of the euro area’s current state he is rather negative: “Today the Eurozone is a shambles, staggering from one crisis to the next.” As Hans-Werner Sinn knows, I am not as pessimistic as he is with regard to the state of the euro area.
This is not only because of the difference in age and the fact that as life advances, recollection takes the place of hope – to quote the German writer Wilhelm Raabe. After all, there has been some progress in the euro-area countries and institutions.