Barring an accident like the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Germany is likely to do enough to hold the euro together, but the EU will become something very different from the open society that once fired people’s imagination. The division between debtor and creditor countries will become permanent, with Germany dominating and the periphery becoming a depressed hinterland.
为了阻止如雷曼兄弟倒闭这样的事故发生，德国或许会采取足够的行动让欧元生存下来，但欧盟会与曾经颠覆人们想象力的开放社会渐行渐远。债权国和债务国的分化将会是持久的，德国将成为主宰，外围国将沦为萧条的穷乡僻壤。