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"I don't think it's sustainable in the absence of a much greater degree of political and economic integration," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a research institute based in London. … "It's very hard for any economy to flourish in the teeth of fiscal austerity of this magnitude — let alone those that can't devalue," Mr Tilford said. … Mr Tilford, of the Centre for European Reform, is skeptical of that argument.

"What's needed is a special summit on immigration, but it's still early days," said Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform. … "The fate of the EU and Africa are joined together over the next 20 years … If you don't put in place a legitimate system to deal with immigration there'll be problems, aggravated by climate change decreasing farming land in Africa."

Turning the eurozone into a larger Germany, says Philip Whyte with the Centre for European Reform in London, could have adverse consequences - not only for the country itself but also for Europe and even the rest of the world. He maintains that "a more German eurozone" would be afflicted by chronically weak demand, debilitating cycles of competitive wage cuts and prolonged economic slumps in the deficit countries. Like many others, Whyte agrees the time has come to make some tough decisions.

"It comes down on two different sides: One is the obvious one that is if this is a real resetting of relations with Russian, everyone benefits, and Central Europe will benefit the most," said Tomas Valasek, a foreign policy and defence expert with London-based think-tank the Centre for European Reform. "On the other side, Central Europe doesn't want to spend too much time on a reset because NATO doesn't have the power to change Russia's thinking; Russia will always see it as an unfriendly alliance.

As Philip Whyte has noted in a paper [Why Germany is not a model for the eurozone] for the pro-European Centre for European Reform, the eurozone is far too large to play such a role in the world economy.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said: "This Irish rescue doesn't end the eurozone crisis at all. It will be a bloody mess for five years at least. The crisis will persist because the structural causes remain."

Elsewhere, Philip Whyte of the Centre for European Reform, a British research organisation, foresaw "deeply pernicious consequences" if Germany's economy emerges as the EU benchmark for everyone else. "A more German eurozone," he wrote, "would be afflicted by chronically weak demand, debilitating cycles of competitive wage cuts, and prolonged economic slumps in the deficit countries."

"The plan has caused political consternation and market panic," observes Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank.

The Centre for European Reform's chief economist Simon Tilford says: "I don't think the current membership of the euro is written in stone." For a country to leave, he says, would be "very messy and risky" but it is no longer inconceivable. … Would Italy [which already has huge debts] be able to underwrite another X billion of debt, given that the markets might be sceptical they would get it back? I don't know," Tilford says.