WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The European debt crisis poses a big test for the euro currency and the economies hit by the problems face a long, difficult road to recovery, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.
Volcker, a special adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, told Bloomberg radio in an interview that fiscal austerity could not be avoided for smaller European countries under speculative attack.
But Volcker said that if growth picks up in larger economies such as Germany and France, that would ease the struggles for European countries forced to slash their budgets.
(Writing by Caren Bohan; Editing by Will Dunham)