FT - The stand-off that may sink the Euro - Syriza's wake-up call

Philip Stephens holds a very moderate and sensible view of Eurozone's unaddressed woes seen in light of the political process. There's hard evidence all over, gained from traction following 4/5 years of dealing with a financial/economic/social/cultural European crisis that has effectively derailed the EU. Words may be easy to flow to describe what has happened, why, who, where and how best to resolve but at the end of every single day since the outset of a predictably messy affair there remained stubborn unwillingness to do what it takes. 

That said, there have been some real developments few and far between. The latest and single most important one being the ECB's QE program which has already folded elsewhere. QE produced clear outcomes particularly in the US and the UK but will it work in a 19-member monetary bloc with such a diverse set of economies and societies?
Indeed, every structural option available is known to the few who can choose from them except that they won't use them for whatever reason.
Beyond the events of the day from Berlin to Athens, the future of the EU and the Eurozone as its boldest experiment is still uncertain. 

A political and economic bloc that is unresponsive to large sections of citizens in many countries for opposing arguments is surely threatened from within.

National governments should always get their act together.

The supranational EU institutions in the making too with stronger countries adopting much broader latitude in their approach to ongoing problems.

Obviously both should go first!

FT - The Euro - gains for Germany, brought unimaginable pains to Greece

The closing line is wholly unwarranted. If anything Germany is the one Eurozone country that has benefited the most from the advent of the single currency. 

In actual fact German companies and the products they make were quick to tap into every single one of the EU's 27 markets from a position of strength. The ever larger single market created more consumers to sell their goods to. Within the now 19-member Eurozone the Euro further improved gains for the region's leading economy.

On balance, no matter the liabilities that Germany has taken on - largely overblown in the German public's perception - the country added up to internal strengths and national wealth. 

The European Union was supposed to be a bloc of sovereign States pooling some of their former internal power for the greater advantage of all. It would never be easy to get such a diverse set of countries and societies to work together gainfully. Yet that remains the single most important challenge that needs fulfilling. Indeed the only one that objectively justifies the existence of a European Union in the first place. 

From Germany to Greece, people must grasp in their daily lives that the EU works for them despite every shortcoming and failure of each national government. Unfortunately this has not been the case to the extent that far too many citizens across Europe feel deeply disillusioned with the current workings of a dysfunctional economic union unable or unwilling to bring meaningful hope to Main Street across every capital.

Greece has to reform its society as much as Germany needs to review its hardened stance on the common monetary area, stress put on 'common'. There is now some traction and experience to go by of the path pursued thus far and outcomes produced. If anything they show there has got to be a new approach of some sort...

TEc - The day after - ECB steps out of the closet to boldly put cash on the table

The ECB has acted to ultimately kickstart the Eurozone's floundering economy picking its own timing to do so.
It is not at all clear how the new approach will improve the plight of the real economy. Checking deflationary pressure while seeking to take inflation up to the upper bound of 2% has got to translate into a better economic context for companies at large.

Unlike the Eurozone QE was timely applied both in the US and the UK.It may now be acknowledged that it played no small part boosting growth there. In Japan outcomes have been mixed but the country faces a different set of challenges calling for Japan-specific answers to them.

The Eurozone faces a very difficult uphill struggle to resume meaningful growth to a widely-varied set of diverging economies and societies. The aftershocks of the financial crisis proved to be - rather unsurprisingly - deeply asymmetrical leaving Germany to benefit from them early on while other countries took the pain one after the other especially in Southern Europe.

Perhaps a new time is now dawning in the EU - funny coincidence(?) the announcement was made only days before Greece's landmark general election - whereby the European Central Bank takes center stage deciding monetary policy and the tools to pursue it.
National politics in each member-State may also acquire a higher profile, with Greece leading the way.