It is one of the most used phrases in the eurozone crisis: Buying time. The measures taken by European politicians over the past two years have obviously not solved the problems. Instead, they provided temporary relief – sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes only for a couple of days. They literally ‘bought time’.

As consumers we know that buying something is different from getting it for free. There is always a price one has to pay for one’s purchases. Otherwise they would be gifts. And though this is a truism, the price of buying time is usually overlooked in the eurozone crisis. Instead, the criticism focuses on the timing, the size or the nature of the measures. ‘Too little, too late’ is a criticism that is much more often heard than ‘too costly’.

After years of bought time for Europe, the bill for holding off the crisis is escalating. The costs have risen so much that they cannot be hidden anymore. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that not a single problem has been effectively solved. So the question is: Are we heading for a moment in the crisis when decision makers finally realise that buying more time is simply not worth the price?

(Dr. Oliver Marc Hartwich)