As the financial crisis in Greece re-emerges as the number one economic story worldwide, Europeans are asking themselves a simple question: how did we get involved in this mess? Greece remains an enigma for Europe while European fingers point strangely southward at their Balkan jewel.

Greece’s debt levels are somehow taking everyone by surprise. While sunshine and seashore are free, gyros and ouzo have been financed for decades by the historic goodwill of democratic memory. Unfortunately for Europe, the cost wasn’t counted ahead of time. The real questions surround the ownership of Greek debt and therefore the ownership of Greece.

How did Europe overlook the books? Finance ministers must have gathered in Halkidiki when they made the decision to bring Greece into the Euro Zone. Europeans love Greece for vacations, food, and naked beaches. Now they must love Greece for balance sheets.

At stake is the stability of the worldwide financial markets. But why is such a small economy like Greece driving the Dow Jones? The answer lies not in Athens, but in Madrid, Rome, and Lisbon. Other European economies are struggling as well so people with money are looking to see what Europe does to recover from its mistake.

At the end of the day, the solutions lie in Berlin and Paris. European stalwarts are deciding whether to treat Greece like a long lost brother or the newly crowned princess. If a brother, then accountability measures must be taken and loose belts tightened up. If a princess, then red ink will be absorbed into the northern economies so that princess can continue to glow for all to see.

While Europe sees Greek strikes, riots, and bombs at the banks as the true problem, history will judge otherwise. The true problem with Greek integration into Europe lies not in the streets of Greece but in the halls of Europe. Greece has long struggled economically, missing out on European prosperity, except where tourism is concerned. Europe’s move has served to tease Greeks into thinking that they were truly one with Europe. Now Europe has to finish off the trick and fully resolve the Greek dilemma by bailing out the Greek financial system.

Any other move signals to the world that European expansion has been a failed experiment, an unattainable dream. If that happens, other European capitals will surely topple, creating more red ink, and another meeting in Halkidiki will be needed.

With Greece’s economy on the brink of disaster, Europe’s finance ministers agreed to a bailout plan over the weekend in order to try to stabilize the euro zone. If today’s financial news is any indication of whether or not the plan worked, then things are looking up for the financial market.

While the country was being plagued by riots, Greece was threatening to back out of the euro zone. This would, in turn, have a lasting effect on Greece and the rest of the European Union. With that information on the agenda, Europe’s finance ministers put together a “stabilization mechanism” that was unveiled after an emergency meeting in Brussels yesterday.

The plan will allow 16 members of the euro zone access to loans from euro-zone governments in access of €440 billion. Also included in the plan is an additional €60 billion from an E.U. emergency fund and €250 billion from the International Monetary Fund, bringing the total to €750 billion. This is an effort to prevent the crisis in Greece from spreading to other countries.

Following the announcement, the European Central Bank said that they were ready to invest in euro-zone government and private bonds “to ensure depth and liquidity” in markets. The United States Federal Reserve also announced that they would re-open swap lines with other central banks in order to allow access to the American dollar.

The new plan comes on the heels of Germany’s Parliament’s massive bailout on Friday for Greece. They backed a plan which provides close to €109 billion in order to help the Greece’s ailing economy.

As of today, the financial market is up across the world. As late afternoon trading in Europe began to come to a close, the Paris CAC 40 was up by nearly 9 percent. London’s FTSE 100 and the Frankfurt DAX were just under 5 percent. Asia’s financial market reported good numbers as well. Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed at 1.6 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose to 2.54 percent.

The euro continues to strengthen above the value of the American dollar. It jumped to $1.3033 from $1.2745 in New York late Friday afternoon.

Italy held its first ever divorce fair in Milan this past weekend, to provide support for the increasing number of Italian couples that are currently or soon to be facing the end of their marriages. Predominantly a Roman Catholic country and one that focuses heavily on the strength of the family unit, the divorce rate has been traditionally low in Italy. According to recent statistics, those days are changing. In 2007, more than 50,000 divorces and 80,000 separations in Italy were cited, and the numbers have continued to climb since then.

The fair, titled “Ex? Punto e a capo,” or “Ex? Stop and start again,” presented a myriad of workshops with topics that ranged anywhere from basic legal advice to beauty makeovers, handling the stalker ex-spouse and adjusting to living alone. Among the vendors present were a host of lawyers, real estate agents, dating services and paternity testing centers. One exhibitor who calls himself a seduction expert, even gave tips on how to pick up women at the local disco.

The fair’s founder, Franco Zanetti, got the inspiration to do the fair from Austria. He says that though divorce in Italy is still looked down upon, he wanted to provide a way for those dealing with it to get help, learn from their mistakes and move on with their lives.

The road to divorce in Italian culture can be seen as challenging for many reasons, not excluding the fact that it can take up to five years to be finalized, according to Claudio De Filippi, one of the lawyers present at the fair. He said that in other European countries, the process takes about a year, but the Vatican presence in Italy still heavily influences the decision to divorce and causes it to be viewed as an option for the most extreme circumstances only. Divorce was made legal in Italy in 1974. The number of total divorces in the country historically at that time had not yet reached 12,000.

Lorenza Lucianer, a twice-separated attendee had this to say at the event, “We’ve turned into America. Everyone is on their second marriage. It happened later here, but it happened.”

On Friday, the German Parliament voted for an approval of its part of the emergency package to rescue Greece. It came after a very heated debate. The emergency package was arranged by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. This was reported by Judy Dempsey of the New York Times.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was able to win quite a majority in the Bundestag, which is the lower house. Merkel and a few other European leaders, imposed strict conditions on Greece prior to any emergency package agreement. The vote passed in the Bunestag 622 to 391. The Bundestrat is the upper house in which 16 German states are represented and the law also passed there with a majority.

Other nations in the euro zone also voted in favor of the rescue. They include larger nations like Italy and France. Despite their own concerns about debt, Portugal assented to the Greek rescue.
A meeting was planned for late Friday for discussion of the package’s final details. This meeting was for the 16 nations in the Euro zone. The package totals approximately 140 billion dollars or 110 billion euros. Prior to the meeting, members of the G-7 had a conference call addressing the growing concerns that a failure to rescue Greece, would quickly spread to other nations in Europe that would affect the world market. The G-7 include Japan, Britain, the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, and France.

There was a great deal of debate in Germany concerning the Greek rescue. The Times reported that Chancellor Merkel and her Prime Minister gave several television interviews recently explaining why Greece must be supported. They said it would affect all of Europe both politically and economically. The German Prime Minister stated that even risking the chance of Greece going bankrupt, would be devastating. He also stated that there has to be a rejection of any ideas that Greece could attempt to pay off its debt to preserve the common currency’s stability.

The Chancellor’s victory in Parliament on the Greek rescue plan occurred 2 days prior to the regional elections in the North Rhine-Westphalia. Merkel’s coalition is having a struggle hanging on to the majority in this region. She does not have much time to sell this package in this region.

The financial bail-out of Greece has caused discord amongst the European Union. Greece will be facing at least a three year recession as it works on cutting its deficit. The government owes close to $400 billion and is supposed to pay off a portion of it this month. Greece has been living beyond its means for the last several years, borrowing money and going on a spending spree. Public sector wages almost doubled. The Greek tax income was hit due to a widespread problem of tax evasion. When the global financial crisis arose, Greece was not able to handle the problems that came with it.

The S&P rating agency has already downgraded Greek debt to “junk”, which means it considers Greece a highly risky place to invest. The controversy and fear lies in the belief that this problem could spread to other eurozone countries, all anxious to encourage investor confidence. Their high level of debt means investors will shy away from lending Greece more money, or demand a higher premium for doing so. The toughest financial impact will be passed on to the other 15 eurozone countries that lent Greece money. Their tax payers will have to share the burden.

Another fear amongst the eurozone countries is that Greece will simply leave the euro. When a country leaves the euro, it allows its currency to fall, which helps their money gain in competitiveness. This could cause huge problems as investors fear other countries in financial hard times, like Spain and Portugal, will follow suit. This could lead to a break-up of the monetary union entirely. The EU has assured the public that it plans to keep the eurozone together and dismisses any discussion of countries leaving the euro. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the eurozone will do whatever it takes to maintain Greek financial stability. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council announced, “[We] are fully aware that we face a serious situation in the eurozone. It is about responsibility and it is about solidarity.”

What does this mean for people planning to travel to Greece this upcoming summer vacation period? According to the managing director of Sunvil Holidays, which has been operating tours to Greece for 40 years, the weakening euro has lowered the price of trips to Europe. Hotels and restaurants have dropped their prices up to ten percent to attract visitors.