It's a new year - but concerns remain about the Euro Zone

The New York times has published a photo essay which looks at the human cost of austerity measures which have been implemented in the hard hit economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Latvia: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/30/world/europe/eurocrisis-photos.html


In the meantime, an economist at the IMF says that the impact of austerity was underestimated in Greece: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/01/05/imf-miscalculated-greek-austerity-effect/

The Euro Zone leaders have agreed to terms on a banking union, but this doesn't mean that the crisis is over -- there is still a possibility of Greece leaving the Euro, and many of the major issues still must be negotiated.  We can expect to see ongoing regular meetings between Euro zone finance ministers and leaders over the next year:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/european-leaders-hail-breakthrough-in-debt-crisis/2013/01/04/7e32429c-55a0-11e2-89de-76c1c54b1418_story_1.html