Germany: Creating Economic Governance

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said May 13 that if the euro collapses, European unity would fray. She also characterized the current economic crisis, precipitated by excessive Greek debt, as an opportunity to enact economic reforms to prevent such a crisis from happening again. Germany is at the forefront of calls for economic reform, and other eurozone member states are lending support out of their own interests, but once the sense of urgency passes the ardor for reform is likely to decline.