A Few Brief Euro Thoughts

There’s been some reassuring comments in the last 24 hours out of Europe.  I’ll highlight below:

Via CNBC:  “We expect the conclusions of the EU summit will be more solid and credible compared with previous summits as far as growth is concerned,” Monti said after a four-way meeting in Rome.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Monti also want the June 28-29 summit to come up with a “clear medium- and long-term vision for greater integration” in the euro zone, he said.

Finally, next week’s summit should “put at ease the financial markets expectations,” he said before shifting into English from Italian to add “that the euro is here to stay and we all mean it.” (emphasis added)

And then on a potential fiscal package to aid growth:

Via NYT: ROME — Leaders from the leading euro zone economies pledged Friday to reinforce the single currency and to push together for a 130 billion euro program to stimulate economic growth.

After a two-hour meeting here, the leaders of France, Germany, Spain and Italy also pledged to give a clearer, more comprehensive vision of the future, while acknowledging the serious crisis sweeping the Continent.

“The 130 billion euros is a strong signal,” French President Francois Hollande said at the news conference following the private meeting, and is part of “a road map that presupposes fiscal and banking union.”

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like pretty definitive progress towards a better understanding of what Europe needs to do to resolve the crisis and a near certain sign that the Euro won’t be allowed to collapse into oblivion.  There’s hope for this world yet.