The Eurozone debt crisis: the options now

The Eurozone debt crisis is entering its third year. The original objective of the official sectors response to the crisis containment has failed. All the countries of peripheral Europe are now in play; three of them (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) operate under full official sector bailout programmes. The prospect of the crisis engulfing the larger peripheral countries, Spain and Italy, has sparked a new round of official sector containment measures. These will involve active intervention by official sector players such as the European Central Bank in order to preserve market access for the affected countries. This article surveys the options now facing the sovereign debtors and their official sector sponsors.