The euro crisis puts political leaders at risk

"Investors know that the European Union doesn't have the firepower to bail Italy out," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER in London.

If France switches from acting as one of the leaders of Europe's recovery effort to being one of its undeniably ailing economies, Tilford suggests, "there's absolutely no chance that Sarkozy would be re-elected." ...If Sarkozy were to lose in France, power would likely go to Socialists who might decide that the austerity measures being pushed onto countries such as Greece and Italy are not the right way to go, Tilford says. "That would create a profound division between France and Germany," he says.