Europe's explosive undecisiveness

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will no doubt have been shocked to see so much indecisiveness among his colleagues at the meeting of EU finance ministers, writes Jean Quatremer in his blog Coulisses de Bruxelles: "It makes the Americans nervous to see the Europeans playing with matches next to a powder keg. The common currency seems to be in more danger than ever, but not only are the 17 Euro states unable to find a solution that would calm the markets once and for all, they also squabble in public about things they've already agreed on, which only exacerbates investors' panic. ... Ultimately the only thing that could prevent the markets from speculating against the debts of a certain country is the establishment of a common European treasury and the issuance of euro bonds . But that would mean a huge increase in federalism, something the states are clearly not yet ready for."

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