The Eurozone Crisis-Defining a Path to Recovery

Editor’s Note: The following essay is drawn from the Diplomat’s Forum lecture presented at the University of Kansas School of Law on November 1, 2012, by Mr. Sean Hagan, the General Counsel of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Diplomat’s Forum is a component of the School’s multi-faceted International and Comparative Law Program. Earlier lectures presented in the Diplomat’s Forum have featured prominent public servants who have dedicated their careers to diplomacy of various sorts—all working toward an overall goal of improving international relations at all levels. Those individuals have typically served as representatives of their own national governments, including Japan, Austria, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia, to name a few. The 2012 Diplomat’s Forum featured a somewhat different sort of diplomat. The General Counsel of the International Monetary Fund serves in a key diplomatic role, for the IMF itself represents a multilateral effort by nearly all nations in the world to collaborate on an ever-increasing range of international economic issues. In doing so, the IMF—and its Legal Department, of course—continually grapples with some of the world’s most difficult problems involving deep cultural, political, and ideological divides, as well as opportunities to bridge those divides. It should be noted that, since this talk was delivered almost five years ago, the Eurozone crisis has abated to a considerable degree. This is due, in large part, to the implementation of the policies that were recommended in these remarks. In keeping with common practice followed by the KANSAS LAW REVIEW in publishing lectures of this sort, and consistent with the character of the Diplomat’s Forum lecture in particular, this article is