From Open Europe news summary of September 20, 2013:
European Commission finance officials have tentatively reached an agreement to adjust the way the ‘structural deficit’ of eurozone countries is calculated. This could allow for an easing of austerity since more of the deficit could be seen as ‘cyclical’. WSJ
This would be hilarious if it were not so serious. Since the deficit countries lack the courage to balance their budgets and, furthermore, have no reason to do so in a union without real enforcement, the euro elite have decided to redefine success by lowering the bar! When will the rest of Europe wake up and realize that the EU and the EMU suffer from structural faults that cannot be avoided? The EU is a socialist organization, whereby success is punished and failure is rewarded. There is no way to avoid the inevitable consequences of such a structure. Europe’s capital base and its world competitiveness is being undermined by its attempt to place entire countries on welfare. Patrick Barron
