Europe Tries to Stave Off a Reckoning

[Gerald]

BRUSSELS — Many around the world are worried that Europe is about to face a Lehman Brothers moment, a big bankruptcy or sudden default that sets off a new phase of panic in Europe and beyond.But these days the problem for Europe may be that it has not had — and may not have — its own Lehman Brothers, at least in the sense that Lehman shocked Americans to take divisive and expensive steps to repair the damage. Instead, it has seen a slow-motion leak of confidence and a steady drain on credibility that has extracted a large and growing toll on stock and bond prices and on the livelihoods of its citizens. Nearly two years after the euro crisis began with concerns about the solvency of Greece, fears have spread to big banks and large countries like Spain and Italy and squashed the gradual recovery from the 2008 recession. But Europe still has not had the all-hands emergency response the Bush administration and the United States Federal Reserve were forced to undertake after the collapse of Lehman on Sept. 15, 2008, and it is unclear if even the intensified market turmoil now is enough to prompt one. An uncontrolled Greek default or a run on a major European bank could still overturn expectations and compel France, Germany and the European Central Bank to act with much greater urgency. But for now, political and financial leaders are buying time, putting out fires one by one, like propping up Dexia Bank, and making vague promises, as European officials did Wednesday, about scheduling new meetings to discuss the recapitalization of European banks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/wo...ef=todayspaper


Note: October 5, 2011