Investors betting against the euro-area surviving its debt crisis in one piece may be overlooking one thing: the will of politicians to hold it together.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is intensifying her defense of the currency. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says there's no alternative to channeling aid to Greece without risking the kind of cataclysm set off by the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Greek Premier George Papandreou this week proposed 6.6 billion euros ($8.7 billion) of fresh austerity measures in a recession headed into a fourth year.

The euro is “a political project,” said Erik Nielsen, global chief economist at UniCredit Group in London. “The market may not have believed them, but leaders have repeatedly said they will do whatever it takes to keep it together.”