I “panta rhei”, “all is flux” Ladies and gentlemen, these words, attributed to Heraclit, readily cross one’s mind on the eve of EMU, both with respect to the previous course of events in the European integration process and with respect to the events still lying ahead.
This leaves fiscal consolidation as the only option. However, the degree of fiscal austerity necessary to stabilize and eventually reduce the Caribbean’s public debt overhang is neither socially nor politically feasible. While a few Caribbean economies have engaged in ad hoc sovereign debt restructuring operations, sometimes more than once, these have not yielded lasting gains.