Europe's Chief Banker Says Eurozone 'Unsustainable'

 Europe's chief banker says the current operation of the 17-nation euro currency bloc¹ is "unsustainable" and that it must create a new vision of how it will manage its affairs in the coming years.

The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, said the financial institution has done what it could to combat the eurozone's two-year government debt crisis. But he told the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday that the currency union's individual countries needed to strengthen the eurozone's structure to control spending and boost Europe's stagnant² economy.

He said the way the eurozone has evolved since its 1999 founding "has been shown to be unsustainable." Draghi called for a new eurozone mandate³.

"The next step is to basically for our leaders really to clarify what is the vision for a certain number of years from now. How is he euro going to be, to look like in a certain number of years from now? What is the union vision that you have a certain number of years from now? And I think the sooner this is specified⁴ the better it is," he said.

The bank chief said that too often European leaders had taken half-steps in attempting to deal with the debt crisis, such as in the recapitalization last year of the Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and now the $24 billion bailout of the debt-ridden Spanish bank Bankia.

"I think what Dexia shows, and Bankia shows as well is that whenever we are confronted with the dramatic need to recapitalize, if you look back, the reaction of the individual governments, countries, supervisors⁵, national supervisors is first to say, underestimate the importance of the problem, then come out with a first assessment⁶, then a second, then a third, then a fourth, and this has been the experience I would say everywhere," he said. "If you look at it, all countries have done exactly the same thing. That is the worst possible way of doing things, because you end up, obviously everybody ends up doing the right thing but at the highest possible cost and price, so I think I urge really all governments to keep this in mind, that it's better to, in a sense err⁷ because of too much at the very beginning, rather than err by saying too little."

The eurozone is facing several imminent⁸ problems, the chief of which is whether economically troubled Greece stays in the currency bloc or becomes the first to leave it. Greece's mid-June parliamentary elections have effectively become a referendum on its eurozone membership.

Meanwhile, the Madrid government is struggling to figure out how to finance its takeover of Bankia, beset⁹ by billions of dollars in unpaid¹⁰ real estate loans.

In Washington, International Monetary¹¹ Fund chief Christine Lagarde was set to meet with the deputy Spanish prime minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, about the country's economic plight¹². The IMF said there are no plans for a Spanish bailout. But a business newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, reported that the IMF's European division has started to develop contingency¹³ plans in case Spain needs funds to complete the bank takeover.

1 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

2 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

5 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

8 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

9 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。

10 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

11 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

12 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

13 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。