The latest relief rally in European financial markets was over almost before it began.


The market’s tepid response on Monday to Greece’s supposedly momentous election of a pro-bailout party points to a hard truth. Investors will not stop punishing Europe until its leaders devise a comprehensive program with a lot more money to backstop the Continent’s banks and governments.


The election in Greece on Sunday gave the markets a few hours of relief before investors quickly moved their attention to Spain, pushing up its borrowing costs to more than 7 percent, the highest level since the country joined the euro currency. European stocks retreated from early gains to end the day little changed. The lingering question is, If good news doesn’t help much, what will it take to ease investors’ growing concerns about Europe’s debt crisis?


The Continent’s leaders have relied on piecemeal solutions over the last two years, dealing with problems in individual countries. The diminishing returns from these programs are giving support to a growing consensus that to defuse the crisis, the debt burdens of Europe’s weaker economies and banks may need to be shared by the entire Continent. That goal is seen as viable only if the countries agree to come together in a tighter political union.


“It’s pretty clear at this point that the strategies that have been pursued so far are not even close to working,” said Dean Churnutt, the chief executive of Macro Risk Advisors, which counsels major investors. “Every day that goes by the market skepticism grows.”


Proposals to take joint action are expected to come up at meetings of European leaders that begin later this week and build toward a European Council summit meeting on June 28 and 29. Many investors say it could be enough for European leaders to express their willingness to move toward a banking, fiscal and political union, even if they are not able to immediately take action. But urgency is needed to keep even more investors from racing for the exits. And there are enormous political obstacles to achieving any sort of agreement between leaders, because it would require nations to give up some of their independence.


There was dark hope in investing circles that an inconclusive election in Greece, or a victory by the left-wing anti-austerity party, would provide a sense of urgency to these efforts. Economists and analysts said Monday that with the Sunday vote resulting in new hope for a coalition government in Greece, only another, more serious crisis might be enough to provoke the necessary reforms.


The focus of investors on long-range issues — the growing problems of much bigger economies, particularly Spain and Italy — was apparent in their response to the Greek election. Both have high levels of debt that need to be refinanced by selling government bonds. But investors are pulling money out of both countries, worried that the risk of not being repaid is growing. That pushed up borrowing costs in Spain through the 7 percent mark — compared with 4.82 percent in early February — a level many consider unsustainable because of the added costs of paying off the debt. Bond yields soared in Italy, to 6.07 percent, from 4.98 percent in March.


Stocks over all also reflected a lack of confidence that the Greek vote mattered. Indexes were up sharply in Greece, but they were only marginally higher in Germany and Britain after giving up most of their earlier gains. They declined in France and Spain. In the United States, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 1.94 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,344.78. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 25.35 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,741.82. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 22.53 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,895.33.


The price of the 10-year Treasury note rose 4/32 to 101 20/32. The yield fell to 1.57 percent, from 1.59 percent late Friday.


“The market positioned itself last week for a good result in Greece,” said Lefteris Farmakis, an interest rate strategist in London for Nomura International. “They got the result and the follow-through is brief. Then attention turns to the fundamental issues.”


Pressure to find a solution is growing as the economies in the United States and China show signs of being pulled down by the recession in Southern Europe. Leaders at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Mexico have been discussing measures to help stem the crisis, including delaying some austerity cuts.