TEc "Strong core pain in the periphery" - It isn't quite like that.

Clearly what we now have in the EU is a three-speed league.
Core countries are not doing equally well as the title to this article might suggest. Discrepancies are wide enough that have economies performing significantly differently across multiple criteria.
The real pain, however, falls on the - for this purpose - ultra-peripheral nations of Greece, Portugal and Ireland knocked over by a combination of home negatives that converged now but each built up over many years. Plus the fact that they are smaller economies, therefore more prone to getting pushed around.
Where size truly matters is best seen in so far as the UK is concerned - strengths being the long term maturity of its debts, the pound sterling as a sovereign currency and growth potential as perceived by the markets. Also, the resolve displayed by the current UK government to aggressively rein in public finances.

The troubled threesome have got their hands tied behind their backs unable to implement any counter-cyclical measures just when they were needed most. Vital breathing space having been all but eliminated in exchange for bailouts whose outcomes are far from straightforward. Greece is already a case in point.

The larger Euro-zone for its part is by no means out of the woods yet.
The insatiable nature of financial markets, ill-advised by obscure rating agencies, makes any attempt at prediction a worthless exercise.
While the troubled three will eventually muddle through market spotlight is going to shift to other indebted countries.
If Spain or Belgium should be targeted next something very powerful will have to be done to secure the Euro as we've known it since birth.
Or an unconditional surrender by EU politicians ensues.
And former grand European ideals fall flat under the winning streak of mighty financial markets.
Their unorthodox ways driven solely by time, opportunity and quick profit overpowering all else.