GREECE (5)

Ignoring the details, two key points emerge from the deal on Greece cobbled together at today's Eurozone summit.

The first is that predictions of doom have been kept at bay once again. Greece has not collapsed, the Euro has not collapsed, Greece has not left the Euro. True, the immediate price has been steep, Euros109 billion; and the country is not yet out of the woods. But as I said in an earlier post, buying time matters in a financial crisis. And the crucial thing is that this deal buys more time.

Secondly, and more importantly for the long-term future of Europe, there has been a greater willingness to talk about the "elephant in the room" of European politics, namely greater fiscal coordination between Member States. It has always been my view that this would be the end result of the financial crisis, despite the unwillingness of certain countries (notably the U.K.) to discuss it. Yet as the cost of the various bailouts become higher, and the poking around in fellow Euro-countries' budgets becomes greater, so the likelihood of more fiscal coordination rises. What seemed unthinkable 10 years ago - or even 2 years ago - no longer is.

Walter Blotscher