On the outskirts of the European Union, Iceland was the first country to plunge into depression. Its financial crisis involved the collapse of all three of the country's major banks following their difficulties in refinancing their short-term debt. As a result, Iceland is currently undergoing a severe economic situation. Ireland followed entering into an economic recession in 2009. The Irish economy had expanded rapidly during the years up to 2007 due to low ECB interest rates among other causes.

The eclipse degree of 19º24’ Cancer is of significance in a number of mundane maps. In my view, significance of the eclipse as indicative of major change or of important events in the political entity concerned, is to some extent a function of the role that this degree plays in the relevant map. If one of the luminaries is present at this degree, this would be more noteworthy than Pluto, all other things being equal. But it is one of the perennial frustrations of studying astrology that all other things are never equal.

"It is almost as if it has been set up as an example; or, if not, as the first of a great series of falls, spectacular collapses of such proportion that they reverberate around the world, like the recent earthquake in Chile.
The land of such central historical importance to the whole project of Western civilization is teetering on the brink, and there seems to be no positive outlook ahead.
The global capitalist society is moving into a new phase, not just weapons and disaster profiteering, but impinging directly on the sovereignty of the nation-state."