Battle of the century

The American historian Walter Russell-Mead has a cynical — but very possibly accurate — take on what the French are trying to persuade the Germans to accept with their plan for Eurobonds:

‘France’s clear short term goal is to commit Germany to underwrite debts from weak EU states.  That not only staves off a crisis that threatens to engulf France; by putting Germany on as a co-signer for Greek, Italian and Spanish loans, France will ensure that Germany’s credit rating will not be better than France’s. The French will accept almost any German rules to limit the ability of countries like Greece to run up new debts.  It is in France’s interest to have the weak EU countries on a fiscal leash — and better still to do it in such a way that the Greeks and others will blame Germany for the austerity.  Once the new system is in place, France will subtly and continuously work to loosen and politicize the rules, heading a “soft money” group within the bloc.