Op-ed: When is credit coming back?

Next Tuesday, the IMF will publish its forecast of a two-year recession in Spain and Italy and a 0.5% contraction in the eurozone. Still, the IMF is keeping its estimation for the United States at 1.8% growth, although it is dropping its 2013 estimation to 2.2%. Although setbacks in many European countries parallel those in the United States (lack of competition, high debt), Europe is being left behind as the world's premier economy wakes up, lifted by several rounds of quantitative easing (QE).

Germany, the foremost country in the eurozone, is totally absorbed in its own safeguards to protect savings, exports and price levels. But it should think deeply about its position and contribute more to the recovery of other European economies who in their lowest hours have had to adopt measures that lead to contraction. Countries such as Italy, with its plan of liberalizations, have to use reforms that neutralize the negative impact that cutbacks have on growth.

For the time being, the new document that Merkel is considering offers two disturbing conclusions. First, both leaders, in terms of austerity, are expecting bigger advances than have already materialized. Second, that their ideas for reestablishing growth, which will be fleshed out during a meeting on January 30, are too naive. Coordinating labor reforms, simplifying the array of job classifications or pushing for increased transnational labor mobility when these issues are not going well inside and outside of ailing countries sounds like textbook idealism. We cannot afford another fruitless summit.