Question time bluster from the PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9806027/David-Cameron-critics-too-hung-up-on-process-of-Europe-reforms.html

Cameron continues to adopt his suicidal approach to Europe despite opposition from American democrats, his own Economy advisers and experienced British ambassadors.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/15/david-cameron-warned-opportunism-europe?INTCMP=SRCH

The effects that this is likely to have on British relations with essential European trading partners and politicians is bad enough. However, the Conservative rhetoric is also sickeningly hypocritical and poorly defined.

Cameron rejects the assertion that his prickly policy will damage the economy and yet he pushes any referendum back to beyond the next election. Hopefully by then he will be out of the driving seat anyway but this convenient delay simply illustrates his desires to pander to Eurosceptics without admitting the consequences of his brinksmanship.

Further he is clearly keeping an eye on the headlines. "If you want to stay out of the single currency you vote Conservative, if you want to go into the single currency you vote Labour, if you want to give power to Brussels, you vote Labour." he pontificates, like a chubby-faced Nigel Farange.

This is lunacy and flies against all the facts. What Labour did was acknowledge economic necessity and political common sense by avoiding antagonising our closest and most important allies in Europe. They had thirteen years to adopt the Euro if they had so desired and showed no inclination to do so. Only a struggling prime minister in a detested coalition would resort to such ineffectual tactics and bare faced lies.

Spiegel seizes the lender's moral high ground

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,790138,00.html

It always gives me a sour taste when I see German newspapers heaping condemnation on the southern members of the Eurozone. It takes two to tango and it takes a poor lender and a poor borrower to put together a bad loan. If German banks and financial companies couldn't be bothered to check whether they were going to be paid back they shouldn't have gone on handing out more loans.

Joseph Stiglitz makes a good point when he says that the world needs borrowers and lenders to function. While lenders might be in a stronger position when the world tips over into recession this doesn't mean that it they are in ethically superior to nations that are net creditors.

It also doesn't help that the article isn't internally consistent. Sensible, Protestant, Northern Europe vs the slack, profligate, Catholic South makes a nice newspaper headline. However, even the Spiegel acknowledges that Belgium has similar levels of debt to Italy and Greece. Presumably we should be blaming the Catholic Waloons for contaminating poor, sensible Belgium with debtor tendencies?