Authorities on both sides of the Tasman warned yesterday of the threats that the European crisis poses to global growth.Last week's messy deal on Greek debt had "clearly" not gained the markets' confidence, and Greece was highly likely to effectively default, Reserve Bank of New Zealand Deputy Governor Grant Spencer told a media conference yesterday."If that [Italy] is the next domino after Greece, then that could be a real problem," he said. The crisis could easily go into next year, he added.As well as threatening financial markets, the European crisis was creating a worsening weakness in the European economy. That, on top of US economic problems, would significantly slow overall global demand. The biggest unknown was whether China could continue to grow on its own, Spencer said.Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Phillip Lowe said in a speech to the Australian Farm Institute that RBA projections "assumed that the European authorities do enough to avert a real disaster but are not able to avoid periodic bouts of considerable market volatility and uncertainty".