You may be right, but I'm a "Glass half empty" when it comes to Europe.

The only solution that Europe is able to throw at the EU is more money that has no effect whatsoever long term and thus creates even more debt which was, and is, the original problem. It solves nothing and only creates eventual inflation. This may solve the debt problem to some extent by inflating it away, but causes just as much suffering to those that have savings.

You suggest a political solution with more fiscal union, which I agree would be necessary to create a more level playing field, but the Club Med countries have very different cultures, languages, attitudes and resources which should have been considered in the original development of the union in the first place. Arguments in this respect were ignored then and I feel will be impossible to impose when we have such diverse tribal psychology, particularly when there is a chance that "someone else will pay for it all"

Graham - there may be a case for defending the Euro but this isn't it. Sure the delgates put on the spot defended the Euro, but what on earth else did you expect them to say in a public meeting? If you want to add value find out what they were saying in private.

The same could be said about all the other proofs you cite. They are public statements of little value and no insight.

The EU may indeed keep on kicking can down the road for some time, but it is now recognised that the single currency concept has enormous problems. The euro may well survive, with fewer member countries, but a formal exit mechanism would be a very good idea for any future system.

Oh I do hope not.

The world would be a much better place with even just one less huge incompetent, misguided, dictatorial bureaucracy.

Disbanding this European one would be good practice for tearing apart the very worst of them, the UN.