Is Portugal Next?

Portugal's economy shrank 0.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter.

Also, the economy shrank by 0.1 percent year-on-quarter in the second quarter.

According to the Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE), the country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.4 percent in the third quarter-quarter basis.

The country’s economy declined by 1.7 percent in the same period of last year in the third quarter. Portugal's GDP declined by 1 percent in the second quarter on an annual basis.

“Portugal, a country of nearly 11 million, is Western Europe’s poorest, with growth that has trailed its neighbors over the past decade, something economists blame on an uncompetitive and rigid labor market. The unemployment rate has risen above 12% this year” (Financialsense, 2011).  

Portugal became the third country in the euro zone affected by the debt crisis. After Greece and Ireland, Portugal received 78 billion Euros in foreign aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union. In return for this help, Portugal had promised to decrease budget deficit as the level of 3 percent in 2013 which it reached year 9.1 percent of the gross domestic product in last year. 

It is not far that the Euro zone debt contagion spread to all Europe. So, the possible domino effect is inevitable. 

As a result, Portugal does not bode well for the economic indicators. Portugal may be the next after Greece. In Italy, Ireland, Spain and Belgium also things did not go well. For the European Union, this situation can be very difficult to carry. Of course, other countries will be affected by the situation. In particular, Europe's two biggest neighbors, Russia and Turkey that seems like unaffected by the financial crisis, but they will be affected by this situation in long-and short-term.

İsa Burak GONCA

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Merkel and Sarkozy Propose New Economic Government

Sarkozy told reporters that he and Merkel want a "true European economic government" that would consist of the heads of state and government of all eurozone nations.

The leaders of France and Germany called Tuesday for greater economic discipline and unity among European nations but declined to take immediate financial measures seen by many investors as the only way to halt the continent's spiraling debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell, the euro slid against the dollar and key European markets edged down in off-hour trading after Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the results of their emergency talks in Paris.

Sarkozy called for a "new economic government" for Europe that would meet at least twice a year with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy as its head, but he offered few other details or indications that the body would have real power.

Merkel and Sarkozy also called for all eurozone nations to enact constitutional amendments requiring balanced budgets. They said they want the process completed by the summer of 2012, but it would almost certainly run into protracted political difficulties in many countries.

Both leaders said the moment was not right to replace 17 government bonds with a single one allowing weaker economies to borrow in cooperation with the powerhouse economies of France and Germany. A growing number of experts are calling for the eurobond as a way to prevent the unaffordable interest rates that have driven Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to seek bailouts from the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

New figures show slowing French and German growth, and the German government fears it would face higher borrowing costs and more risks if it had to borrow jointly with financially shaky nations.

"We have exactly the same position on euro bonds," Sarkozy said. "One day we could imagine them, but at the end of a process of European integration, not at the beginning."

The two leaders also proposed a Europe-wide tax on financial transactions and pledged to harmonize their countries' corporate taxes in a move aimed at showing the eurozone's largest members are "marching in lockstep" to protect the euro.

Sarkozy told reporters that he and Merkel want a "true European economic government" that would consist of the heads of state and government of all eurozone nations.

The move appeared a step toward the closer long-term economic integration that many analysts have said is inevitable to make the euro experiment survive, though it was unclear how much effect it would have in the short term.

"There has to be a stronger coordination of financial and economic policy" to protect the euro, Merkel said.

Reuters

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