HAND THEM A WOODEN STAKE:

Fury as France and Germany Escape Rule Breach Punishment (Geoff Meade, 11/25/03, PA News)

A decision not to punish France and Germany for consistently breaking single currency rules triggered a political backlash today. [...]

Conservative MEP and finance spokesman in the European Parliament Theresa Villiers said:

“Surely this must be the end of the Stability Pact.

“Why should any country comply with it, when the two biggest Euroland economies are flouting it and getting off scot-free?

“This is also another blow to the credibility of the euro. The Pact was billed as an essential way to make the euro work – now it is coming apart at the seams.”

European Liberal Democrat leader Graham Watson MEP said:

“This shabby deal will endanger the ratification of Europe’s new constitution. Citizens may well ask what is the point of agreeing new rules to run the European Union if the big countries will ride roughshod over them when the going gets tough.”

“The European Parliament will want to conduct a thorough post-mortem on this sorry affair. The Commission has attempted to apply (the Pact) but has been overridden by self-interested member states. The onus now will be on the governments which have killed off the Stability Pact to create a workable framework to ensure the future stability of Europe’s currency.”

Those transnational institutions seem so wonderful when they're all in your mind, but give them substance and no powerful nation will ever bind itself by them.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 25, 2003 12:09 PM