It is justifiable if a British entrepreneur sets up a cheese business in France so that French cheese can be sold to the French. But it is not justifiable if that French cheese is sold to the British, undermining the British cheese industry!

The wise words of Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France.

Or something like that.

How best to defeat the law? Break so many laws simultaneously that the police can not cope:

Governments have found a way to circumvent the EU, by breaking so many rules at once, that the Commission cannot even begin to react effectively.

The answer to the contradictions within the Eurozone is to have one institution responsible for the EU’s whole financial space. But that means a serious lurch away from national ability to cheat.

Plus it means that ultimately Germany has to pay out hugely for the profligacy of other EU members, while having no way to force them to behave better in the future. Not a good deal for Germany?

Tricky:

As for the eurozone, I always argued in the past that a break-up is in effect impossible. I am no longer so sure.