According to Pedro Leao, ISEG, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Alfonso Palacio-Vera, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, there is no clear pattern of economic integration among eurozone countries. Peripheral eurozone countries have financed their large current account deficits by increasing their indebtedness vis-a-vis core countries--Germany in particular. According to the authors, Portugal, Greece, and Spain face a decade of economic stagnation and high unemployment. In the absence of institutional reform of the European Monetary Union, Portugal's best way forward is to exit the eurozone.
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