The euro is not in “danger” and will still be a reality years from now, but needs better coordination at political level among the countries that share the European currency, commented the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Europe’s economic situation is nevertheless “very worrying” because the consequences of the crisis are “far from over and the future is more uncertain than ever,” he warned, on 8 December, in a public address at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva.

Denouncing “delayed” financial supervision, he added that “financial governance also still falls short”. On resolution of the different crises, he observed: “We saw how the Greek and Irish episodes show that in Europe we’re still a long way from being up to scratch”.

As the European states struggle to agree on an increase in their stability fund to help ailing eurozone countries, Strauss-Kahn argued the day before in Athens for “something more dynamic” to solve the debt problem in the eurozone, an “overall solution” that is not applied “country by country”.