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The European Union (EU) nowadays is facing the most severe debt crisis. While Germany is rebounding very successfully from the economic recession Ireland, Greece and Portugal are faced with significant difficulties. The prospect of the single currency is drowning as a result of the debt and default fears that put a question mark over the whole EU. This paper critically assesses the widely used projections of the EU and appropriateness of different budgetary strategies in order to sustain the fiscal balances and stability of the Euro. This paper suggests that there are three possible solutions for "rescuing" the Euro. First, for the EU to continue with the strong enforcement of the rescue scheme. This is a serious step, having in mind that the burden of adjustment of the budget deficit will be inherited in future generations. Countries need to achieve higher rates of growth and stability in the medium term in order to cover today's losses. Second, elimination of the countries which are not in compliance with the Maastricht rules. If the countries stay, they won't have control over their monetary policies. If they leave the Euro zone, that will lead to an increase of the interest rates on a higher level than today. Either their citizens will face large declines in their living standards as their currency falls against the Euro or they will be demanding larger increases in wage that will lead to high inflation. There are two sides of the solution, and neither of them is easy. Third, exit of Germany from the Euro zone or the division of the Euro zone into two sub-regions (one with a strong currency and the other one with an adjustable exchange rate). All the solutions are in favor of further sustainability of the Euro. But in modern market economies, market powers make the final decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protracted crisis in the European Union has substantially augmented lingering euro-skepticism on the continent. Member-countries are desperate to restore the legitimacy of the organization, while descending perceptions about values of the EU integration model among candidates and would be members are real. Inward-looking EU is less engaged in imposing conditionality which has been for more than a decade a main instrument in exporting democracy. With the EU gravitational effects largely absent, nationalistic and populist sentiments are gaining ground in some parts of the Western Balkans, advocating alternatives to European integration as a regional gate to globalization. What does the past record of several Eurasian regional organizations imply about their potential to serve as sustainable alternatives to the European Union? Can the regional trends in the wider Euro-Asian area eventually open up alternative perspectives for some of the Western Balkan countries trailing back on their European path? In this article, the performances of a few regional organizations in Eurasia in several domains will be analyzed applying the comparative method. The aim of the paper is to depict a different genesis and civilizational background and emphasize structural flaws and comparative weaknesses of these organizations to the European Union, especially in the area of political and cultural values underpinning their engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]