It is not inevitable that the EU – or democracy – will survive this mess

Europe may well muddle through with technocrats and tighter straitjackets, but the rule of the people must be guarded

Are we all doomed? America's fiscal democracy this week collapsed in disarray. The Arab spring ran out of steam. Emergency regimes have taken power in Greece and Italy, while Germany could not sell a third of its bonds. Salvation, according to Europe's desperate "leader", José Manuel Barroso, can only lie in "stronger governance in the euro area, both in discipline and in...