"Difficult days ahead for the euro"
A senior politician and leading Finnish economic experts say difficult days still lie ahead for the euro zone.
Speaking on the Yle radio programme Ykkösaamu on Friday, conservative National Coalition Party politician Ben Zyskowicz said it was possible that the euro could be seen as a failure in the future.
Zyskowicz, who chairs the Parliamentary Supervisory Council, said only greater economic co-operation or the break-up of the common euro currency could solve the present crisis.
His comments followed earlier remarks on Friday by IMF Chair Christine Lagarde that a full economic union including eurobonds, banking unity and a common debt was the only answer to solve the euro crisis.
Responding to her statement made at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg, the Managing Director of The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) Vesa Vihriälä said such co-operation would be a long and demanding process.
In the view of Research Director Aki Kangasharju of the Nordea banking Group, forthcoming euro summits will determine whether Europe and Finland will fall into recession or not.
“It is becoming more evident that both the world economy and growth in the economy are declining due to the euro zone crisis,” Kangasharju stated.
He specifically pointed to recent unfavourable export figures.
“Finland is on the brink as whether a recession occurs or not. The longer such uncertainty persists in Europe, the more likely a recession will hit Finland,” he concludes.
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