The window of opportunity to save the euro is rapidly closing, as the sovereign debt crisis erodes the solvency of Europe’s banks and drives up borrowing rates for even once rock-solid countries like France. 

 

On Saturday, the crisis swept away another leader, when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after 17 years of dominance in Italian politics to the jeers and cheers of crowds in Rome.

Both there and in Greece, jumbled parliaments came together with urgency to install more technocratic governments that are committed to delivering the difficult reforms and austerity measures demanded by the European Union, the European Central Bank span#ExplainsLink a, span#ExplainsLink a img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited { border: medium none; } , and the International Monetary Fund span#ExplainsLink a, span#ExplainsLink a img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited { border: medium none; } .