In an
op-ed in the
Wall Street Journal Europe (subscription), Citi Chief Economist Willem Buiter argues that European Union (EU) member states, non-EU sovereign wealth funds and especially the European Central Bank must commit to supporting a much larger emergency fund for Eurozone countries facing sovereign debt troubles. Buiter also outlines what is needed in a new permanent European stabilization mechanism, including provisions for imposing tough, "IMF-style" fiscal adjustment programs on countries seeking funding and concessions from bondholders in any eventual debt restructuring. Without such actions, "the euro, and possibly even the EU, may not survive much beyond 2011," he writes.