London (CNN) -- I have often thought of European officials as the proverbial "plate spinners" from the circus. Those talented artists who balance spinning plates on sticks, ever increasing the number of sticks, rushing from one to the other, giving them a tug and pull to keep them moving, always aware that if they are too slow or too fast, one of the plates will crash to the ground. That is exactly what we have in Europe today. Only theartists are European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso et al, while the plates are Greece, Spanish banks, Italian deficits, eurobonds and German chancellor Angela Merkel. Two weeks ago it was the Spanish banks which were wobbling -- but a quick tug and push worth €100 billion kept the plate moving. Before that it was the Irish referendum on the fiscal compact.....then it was the Greek election....and the artists now have to stand ready to renegotiate the bailout terms to give Greece breathing room (after giving a tug to the Merkel plate to prevent her falling off in pique). Source: The Coming Crisis
