Last week Angela Merkel was warning
that peace in Europe could be endangered if an agreement was not
reached at the EU summit on how to manage the crisis that has engulfed
the euro and the whole of the EU economy. Speaking to the German
parliament she said, “No one should think that a further half century of
peace and prosperity is assured. It isn’t. And that’s why I say if the
euro fails, Europe will fail, and that mustn’t happen." Some of the more
serious strategists of capital have even raised the prospect that the
euro could break up. The 27 EU leaders on Wednesday night, however,
finally produced a three part deal.

A new International Labour Organisation reports says that as much as 50%
of youth are now unemployed in many countries. Capitalist crisis has
meant soaring unemployment especially amongst the young. The report 
warns of difficult years ahead where young people may resort to violence
to vent their anger at governments worldwide.

The world
crisis of capitalism has entered a new stage. Rather than recover,
several countries are showing features of a depression. This is an
unprecedented situation and shows the deep malaise affecting the
capitalist system, still reeling from the slump of 2008-9.