Postscript: threatened insolvency of a euro area country: What should the EU do?

To supplement the articles in ifo Schnelldienst 7/2008, Elmar Brok, member of the European Parliament, comments on the possibility of the insolvency of a euro area country. If such a euro state really became insolvent, this could call into question the monetary union. In his opinion Europe should exercise solidarity but "within reasonable dimensions". The instruments of European solidarity must be used in diverse forms. For example, the European Union recently announced an increase in advanced subsidies for the European Fund for Regional Development and the European Social Fund that are mainly used in Eastern and Central European states. In total 6.25 billion more euros have been spent in addition to the promotion of large projects.