Gordon Brown: Europe is in a 'tranquility period' "You're in the new tranquility period," Mr Brown said. He credited the plan announced earlier this month by ECB President Mario Draghi for calming financial markets, although so far, no country has asked for the central bank's help, Reuters reported. Mr Brown said the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, while probably destined to collapse anyway, fell apart quickly when their richest regions balked at the costs of supporting poorer ones. Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, the richer countries, are they over time going to be prepared to pay the price for economic integration? Mr Brown asked, noting German opinion polls have shown opposition to Greece staying in the eurozone. The way things have been done, you're going to have some sort of fiscal union, and at that point you're going to say, 'Well, who is paying for this?' And at that point, I think people are going to demand referenda. Mr Brown, the United Nations special envoy for global education, was in New York for the launch of a UN education initiative.