The euro is still in the woods. Nothing spectacular has been done to buck up the fading strength of the currency. So much so that many of the periphery countries, especially Greece, are thinking of exiting the 17-member eurozone, in order to save their economies from the harsh conditionalities that the common tender is confronted with.

And now Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s candid assessment that the entire eurozone is in a dark tunnel speaks volumes of apathy at work. Though Monti is hopeful that there might be a way out soon for the crisis, the point is that Italy itself is deep in a quagmire of debt and rescheduling, and the euphoric talk is largely seen as a moral booster before he gets into parleys with his counterparts in France, Germany and elsewhere.

What is unnerving leaders across the continent is the soaring rate of unemployment. There are around 17.8 million people who are out of work in the eurozone, and this doesn’t count of many more millions who are in frictional unemployment. On the macroeconomic level, the crisis is far from being addressed as mounting debt and lack of growth remains primary concerns for the respective governments. On the policy approach level as well there is utter confusion, as Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was leading the initiative on bailing out crisis-ridden economies, has taken a back seat. Plans for austerity, cutting down the size of the public sector and liquidity crunch are issues that have bogged down millions in Europe. With buoying of economies becoming a secondary concern, the core stress these days remains on saving the euro. It’s a task that is in wanting for more than a year.