Wall Street Journal
February 5, 2011
German Chancellor Angela Merkel might well be reflecting today that Friday’s summit of European Union leaders, described by Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme as “surreal” in our account of the meeting, could, just maybe, have gone a little better. In retrospect, however, it was unlikely that euro leaders would agree over a few hours in Brussels to socially sensitive changes such as increasing retirement ages and abolishing wage indexation.
Apart from those cited in our report, there was another objection to the way the German proposals–for a “grand bargain” to improve euro-zone competitiveness in return for boosting European bailout funds–have been framed. That concerns how the European Commission, the executive in Brussels which already has a project under way to boost the competitiveness of EU economies, has been comprehensively sidelined. For a generation of Europhiles, this is just beyond the pale. Ms. Merkel seems to be putting herself on the Tom Paine-side of the Federalist versus anti-Federalist arguments.
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