In this short, fiercely argued book, David Marsh explains how five years of continuous crisis management not only have failed to resolve the Eurozone’s problems but have actually made things worse. While austerity-wracked southern states descend into misery and resentment, creditor countries—led by Germany—fear that they will be forced to subsidize their weaker brethren indefinitely. Constructive dialogue has collapsed as European decision making descends into terrified paralysis, and the potential paths out of the impasse are blocked by indecision and incompetence at the top.

As voters in Greece and Italy rebel against externally imposed hardship, and the sums needed to bail out failed economies reach ever more staggering proportions, the contradictions at the heart of the European project are becoming more and more obvious. Marsh warns that the current succession of complex technical fixes cannot sustain the Eurozone on life support indefinitely. Radical solutions are on offer, but without leaders who are strong and principled enough to push them through, Europe risks a depressing future of permanent decline.