Writing in the Financial Times, Wolfgang Münchau puts the survival of the eurozone at 50:50. Five years ago the possibility of collapse was close to zero, last year it was no longer trivial, but small, however, events have moved quickly and politicians have done very little to restore confidence. The crisis is moving at a rate that exceeds Angela Merkel’s “political speed limit”.

Lawrence Summers, Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, is similarly pessimistic unless decisive action is taken quickly. He outlines four measures that the Eurozone must adopt to contain the storm. The alternative to forthright action today is much more expensive policies – to much less benefit – in the not too distant future. Lawrence concludes: “the next few weeks may be the most important in the history of the EU.”

Wolfgang Münchau is associate editor and European economic columnist of the Financial Times, writing a weekly column on political and economic trends in the EU.

Lawrence Summers is a global economy speaker. He is Charles W. Eliot university professor and president emeritus at Harvard University. He was Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton