Pure theatre from two master illusionists - by David Gow
"I don't think we were diddled, fooled, done over," said a sombre Joaquín Almunia, EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, summing up on the day after the blitz visit of Sarko to the 13-strong "Eurogroup" of finance ministers on Monday night.The workings of the pact - revised in 2005 - are arcane because they are politically devious and have been subject to chicanery in recent years, allowing Germany and France, the eurozone's two biggest economies, to escape without fines despite busting the rules for four years in a row. Now virtuous Germany, in the person of ultra-orthodox finance priest Peer Steinbrück with his projected 0.5% deficit this year, is admonishing Sarko to set an example, stick to the rules and deliver on time.
Almunia, the pact's stern guardian, said he had lectured the French president that budgetary discipline and reform were not irreconcilable but went hand in hand and ensured growth and jobs.
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