Slovak remark renews eurozone break-up talk

Press quote (NPR)
Simon Tilford
14 December 2010

"Slovakia is an interesting case," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform. As a small economy that is not yet massively integrated with the rest of the eurozone, Slovakia could envision bringing back its koruna without massive disruption to the rest of the eurozone, he said. "If Spain was forced out, the eurozone would have a huge problem," he said, referring to the far-larger Spanish economy. "If Slovakia left, it wouldn't have a dramatic impact on the eurozone." But he didn't rule continued speculation about a breakup of the currency zone. "The longer the crisis goes on, the bigger the bailouts, the greater the chance of a fiscal union, the more we will hear these kinds of things."