European Commission Vice President and former Prime Minister of Estonia, Siim Kallas, referred to the enormous advantages that Estonia gains through cooperation with the rest of Europe and the "logical step" is now for Estonia to join the euro. "Some in Greece have criticized Estonia for this entry - he continued -but this is not a political 'caprice'. We know that it will be forever." Kallas also noted that it has always been Estonian economic policy to have a balanced budget something that ELDR's Dutch member party VVD also proclaimed during the recent election campaign in the Netherlands, which saw VVD emerge as the largest party. Trade unions and socialist politicians talk about problems with austerity measures, but these are vital to avoid civil war in the future", concluded the Commissioner.  

Robert Priester, Head of Department - Wholesale and Regulatory Policy, European Banking Federation, commented that economists expect a recovery in the euro area but it will be a fragile one. "There will be a very precarious and difficult backdrop to the forthcoming years with rising public debt, an uncertain regulatory framework and low credit growth in terms of capital rules. The immediate action to be taken should be for more capital rules and an improvement of supervision to be put in place by the end of 2010, in particular for banks with cross-border activity."

Priester concluded by noting that the European Commission plays a crucial role in maintaining competition policy and monitoring state aid, while no such a mechanism exists in the US. "The European Union is the main market competitor for the US nowadays and it is imperative that there is a level playing field to preserve the competitiveness of the EU banking sector."

Olli Schmidt MEP, ALDE Coordinator of the European Parliament's committee on the economic and financial crisis began by stating that "the euro is still a source of stability and prosperity and I salute Estonia for pushing ahead with joining the single currency. If all member states had adhered to the policies of the EU Stability and Growth pact we would be in a much better position now. As it is today we see just three countries that are fulfilling the stability and growth pact: Estonia, Luxembourg and Sweden."

The bailout of Greece - he continued - was expensive but necessary. The alternative would be far worse and result in social instability.

Schmidt noted that the crisis could be the start of something good if it brings the EU closer together. We need to adhere to the principles of the Stability and Growth Pact, while improving the monitoring measures and investing more in education and infrastructure.

Schmidt concluded, "there is a lot to do, there will be further challenges, but without the euro zone we would have had bust instead of boom. We liberals have always promoted peace freedom and stability and this includes enhancing financial and economic cooperation."  

Dick Roche, Minister of European Affairs, Ireland, supported Schmidt's views by commenting that the story does not finish with the bailout of Greece. The most difficult decision, the solution, has still to found. "We should not look at the US any longer and not compare ourselves with them. We have to start determining our own 'norms' in Europe. The solution will come from Europe and not from outside. China is looking at Europe instead of the US because we are more stable than US." Roche concluded, "In ten year's time we'll look back and say it was hard then, but we learnt a lot and things have improved"