Transatlantic Relations: The Crisis

The following is an edited transcript of a conference on the euro zone crisis held on March 20, 2012, at the headquarters of the NCAFP. One contribution from a main speaker and other interventions from three discussants take the reader through the most significant dimensions of the euro zone crisis: causes, evolution, and prospects for the long term. In an informal yet rigorous manner, the four European-born experts offer their insights into the complex interplay of economics, political science, business, history, law, and sociology that characterizes the most serious economic threat that the United States and the world economy are facing today. Among the issues covered: not one but several crises; comparison of the U.S. and European responses to their respective economic challenges; national politics and populism; Greece and contagion; the lessons of history; political legitimacy; and monetary, fiscal, and political integration in the European Union in the years ahead.