European Institute

Fears have spread through markets and finance ministries that the debt burdens and other problems in the eurozone could help plunge the world into a global recession.

With Washington now publicly engaging with European governments on these issues, a cogent analysis of the stakes for the U.S. and the limits of leverage for the Obama administration in promoting solutions appeared on NPR, the national U.S. public radio network.

Nervousness about a possible default on Greek debt visibly rippled throughout Europe last week. Calm returned, at least temporarily, after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers Friday, attended by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – the first time a U.S. Treasury Secretary has participated in this kind of a eurozone ministerial meeting. In an interview earlier this week Geithner said, “I think they [European leaders] recognize they’re going to have to do more to earn the confidence of the world.”

Recent outbreaks in food-borne illness in both Europe and the U.S. – such as the E.coli episode this summer in Germany (that affected some transatlantic travellers) and the U.S. scare and recall involving salmonella-infected ground turkey meat – have underscored the need for better protection and inspection of foodstuffs and other agricultural products.

But efforts to tackle the issue are encountering problems on both sides of the Atlantic. In particular, funding problems have beset Congressional-mandated reforms in the U.S.

The United States and European Union signed this week an agreement to fight illegal fishing which, according to EU estimates, costs EU fishermen 23 billion euro per year.  The agreement calls for cooperation and the free flow of information between the EU and US in combating this growing problem.