Europe’s monetary union is at the centre of a financial hurricane now closer than ever to tearing through the world economy and inflicting damage for years to come. The eurozone’s challenges are hardly insurmountable. The policies needed to end the crisis are hard, but feasible. Europe is on the brink because it is unable to muster the political will to do what it must.

Angela Merkel says if the euro fails Europe fails. In truth, it is the other way around: if Europe fails the euro will fail, and uncountable strands in the fabric of European unity, including its single market, will unravel.

For the rest of the world, too, the implications of European failure are grave. Since the onset of the financial crisis there has never been a more urgent need to strengthen the global co-operation and free trade on which prosperity and economic progress everywhere depend. The mounting disorder in Europe could throw these efforts into reverse.