Key EU summit in Brussels to begin today

Beginning Thursday, European leaders will meet at a crucial EU summit, the third since October 2008, to deliberate on how to contain the debt contagion to prevent a break-up of the euro zone.

Why is the situation alarming?

Cyprus became the fifth country to seek a bailout. And global fi scal health leaves little scope for more. In fact, second installments of previous bailouts are also in doubt. Earlier assistance has failed to alleviate the sovereign debt situation in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Italy.



Will the meeting be fruitful?

Hard to say. There’s no magic bullet. But some options could be:

A EU-wide banking framework

A common fiscal authority

Issuing common euro zone bonds

Reassuring markets of move towards deeper integration.



Is anyone opposing fiscal integration?

Stronger economies of Germany and France are opposed to an integrated fiscal union

Germany has vehemently opposed issuance of common euro zone bonds

Most of the measures will take a long time to be implemented, no short term fixes.