EU dithering bad for PIGS

European reluctance to help Athens re-finance its €54 billion debt is punishing the other eurozone nations worst affected by the crisis, leads ABC. March 22 saw another day of panic on the Spanish, Portuguese and Irish stock exchanges as Berlin continues to hold out on a bail-out plan for the troubled Greek economy. This against a backdrop in which “40% of Germans believe that the country would be better off without the euro”, the Spanish daily points out. Spanish president José Luis Zapatero and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso are feverishly trying to convince Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree on a plan prior to the 25 March EU summit in Brussels, “to avoid a Eurozone credibility crisis", the Madrid daily concludes.