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The eurozone faces a summer of unprecedented turbulence as the financial crises in Spain and Italy spread from the centres of government to the countries’ regions.

In Spain, the disruption on the financial markets has triggered a series of public protests on the streets. These threaten to pose the biggest challenge to the country’s democratic system since the death of the dictator Franco in 1975, which ushered in a period of modernisation, prosperity and free elections.

The urgency of the current situation was underlined by the decision of the country’s economy minister Luis de Guindos to fly to Germany today to request further bail-out money in addition to the injection of £78billion for the banking system that has already been agreed by European leaders.

The crisis facing Spain comes as financial leaders from Brussels, Frankfurt and the International Monetary Fund are due in Athens to try to tackle Greece’s latest debt problems.

The truth is the monumental scale of the problems facing the beleaguered nations in euroland is moving to a new, dangerous level. Instead of being merely a problem for banks and central government, the economic woes are now starting to affect the countries’ grassroots. Across the so-called ClubMed nations (the deeply indebted Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy), regions and municipalities are fast running out of money and are seeking rescue from their central governments. In turn, political leaders in Madrid and Rome are looking to Germany yet again for salvation.

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