Ominous start for the new year:
EU Officials Begin New Year With Calls to Save the Euro
Published: Sunday, 1 Jan 2012 | 5:49 PM ET
By: Reuters
Policymakers marked the 10th anniversary on Sunday of the introduction of euro notes and coins by urging governments in the currency bloc to save and consolidate to overcome their debt crisis.
While German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the euro “a clear success story” and pledged the currency would remain stable, he also urged vulnerable debtor states to follow a tough savings course in 2012, boost their competitiveness and work to win back market confidence.
“This is not a euro crisis, it is a debt crisis in some euro states,” Schaeuble told German newspaper Bild in an interview to be published in Monday’s edition of the paper.