In the end, The Frau hasn’t really lost all that much yet. As just about everybody agrees, the famous “Growth Pact’ is nothing more than window dressing. A very vague hint, that yes, okay, perhaps, maybe. Basically it is nothing other than the proverbial fig leaf. Something both Sauce Hollandaise and The Frau could use each for their own purposes. Hollande could gain time and show that look, see? I kept my Election promises! Growth is now on the agenda! And The Frau could, and did, throw the sop at the SPD who would, and did, then vote for her Nonsense Economics Fiscal Rectitude Pact.
But it is nothing more than that. A sop. Alas. Now for the bit Monti extracted from her, like teeth without anaesthetic, it is a step in the right direction of course. However, as most of those looking at the situation as it is, without the PR and the hype, agree, all it has done is give a reprieve to the bust up of the Euro. Things need to be done fast and sensibly now, so that the three month window of opportunity is taken advantage of and disaster finally averted. Will that happen?
Well, the way Mario Monti went about forcing The Frau’s hand is a good sign. If the way decisions are made is forced to change, then the Eurozone might just get down to business. On the other hand all this nonsense about the good pupils who have done their homework and the bad pupils who haven’t doesn’t auger well, in that it re establishes the moralistic way of “dealing” with the crisis. Bad children must be punished! A policy that has been the cause of the contagion and explosion of the Euro Crisis so far.
And a final remark, on the nonentities ostensibly running the show. Do we really need Herman Von Rompuy? From Mr Who Are You? He has graduated to Mr. Just What is it You Do?
At least Mario Monti put him in his place when he got up to make the statement that all was well in cuckooland because the so called growth pact (that is nothing) had been unanimously agreed. What did Monti say? Words to the effect of:
“Sit down and shut up! Nothing has been agreed!”
Now if Mr What’s His Name Who Are You? couldn’t even realise that much, what is the use of having him there at all and paying him such exorbitant amounts and perks?