歐洲亟需更大規模的救助

????隨著歐債及銀行業危機接近尾聲的希望上升，近幾周市場出現了反彈。但問題是，這場危機遠未結束。上周歐元區全部17個成員國批準對歐元區救助基金進行擴容，但此舉只是努力使歐洲資本市場恢復正常所需要的第一步。

????真正的難題尚未解決。歐洲銀行業仍需注資，歐元區邊緣國家的主權債務需進一步削減，新近擴容的救助基金需要進一步擴大規?！蟠蟪^現有容量。

????上周末，美國、中國等二十國集團（G20）財長要求歐洲在本周日前針對上述所有問題制定一個全面的計劃。歐洲已經接受了這一緊迫的時間限制，但圍繞如何解決這些棘手問題，仍然存在很大分歧。即便歐洲能夠成功提交這份計劃，它能否在早已對救助心生厭倦的歐洲民眾新一輪投票中獲得通過仍是一個問題。

????歐洲危機已持續近兩年半，一直沒有得到解決。期間，市場多次迫使歐洲在一連串的債市和股市恐慌中采取行動，最近一次市場恐慌導致8、9月份股市大跌。每次出現恐慌時，政府都會采取一些的權益之計，甚至只是口頭的承諾，但這些舉措只能算是給一個汩汩流血的傷口貼上了一張小小的創可貼。

????由于歐元區領導人有望最終達成一致行動，周一早間歐洲股市延續兩年來最大的周漲幅。此輪反彈的中心看來是上周歐洲金融穩定基金（the European Financial Stability Facility）成功擴容至4,400億歐元（6,110億美元）的消息。擴容一事花了漫長的3個月時間才獲得歐元區所有17個成員國的同意，在此期間市場曾經多次處于崩盤的邊緣。

????不過，雖然EFSF擴容朝著解決危機邁出了一大步，但不幸的是這只是完成這幅復雜的經濟拼圖的第一塊。上周末在巴黎開會的二十國集團財長和央行行長們敦促歐洲采取更多行動。

希臘問題

????Markets have rallied in the last few weeks amid increased hope that the European debt and banking crisis was nearing an end. Trouble is, the crisis is far from over. The passage of the enlarged euro zone bailout fund last week by all 17 euro zone members is just the first step required to bring any sense of normalcy back to the continental capital markets.

????The real hard stuff has yet to be hammered out. European banks still need to be recapitalized, further haircuts are needed on the sovereign debt of the peripheral euro zone nations and the newly enlarged bailout fund needs to get bigger – a lot bigger.

????Over the weekend, the finance ministers of the G20, which includes the United States and China, gave Europe until next Sunday to come up with a plan that addresses all of the above concerns in a comprehensive plan. Europeans have accepted the tight deadline, but there still remain deep divisions as to how to resolve these thorny issues. And even if they are successful, there is doubt as to whether such a plan could withstand another round of voting by the bailout-fatigued European populace.

????The European crisis has been chugging along for almost two-and-a-half years now without resolution. The market has forced the Europeans to act over that time through a myriad of scares in the bond and equity markets, with the latest flare-up sending stocks tumbling in August and September. But each was met by some short-term fix or promise, which was tantamount to putting a small band-aid over a gushing wound.

????The equity markets this morning in Europe extended their greatest weekly gain in the last two years on the hopes that leaders of the euro zone have finally gotten their act together. The centerpiece of this rally appears to be the successful enlargement last week of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to 440 billion euros ($611 billion). Getting all 17 members to agree to the enlargement took three very long months, in which time the markets were brought to the brink of capitulation on several occasions.

????But while enlarging the EFSF was a big step forward to resolving this crisis, it is unfortunately just the first piece needed to complete this complicated economic puzzle. Meeting in Paris over the weekend, the finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the G20 pushed Europe to do much more.

The Greece problem