Europe's Looming Day of Reckoning

http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2013/07/europes-looming-day-of-reckoning.html

The kerfuffle over Europe's sovereign debt levels has died down to the point where it barely makes the pages, virtual or otherwise, of the mainstream media.  Unfortunately, as you will see, the problem has not gone away despite the imposition of much hated austerity measures.

Figures from Eurostat show that at the end of the first quarter of 2013, the government debt-to-GDP ratio in the euro area (the 17 nations that are using the euro as their currency or EA17) stood at 92.2 percent compared to 90.6 percent one quarter earlier.  In the EU27 (the broader Europe), the ratio rose from 85l2 percent to 85.9 percent from the last quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.  If we look back one full year, the EA17 debt-to-GDP level rose from 88.2 percent to its current 92.2 percent and the EU27 debt ratio rose from 83.3 percent to 85.9 percent.  This cannot be termed as "healthy" in any way and seems to be heading in the wrong direction.

Here is a chart showing the overall government debt in euros, debt-to-GDP ratio and the composition of the debt for both the EA17 and EU27: