We need our EU ‘reward money’ now

On Tuesday we read that Willem Buiter, Citigroup global chief economist, had stated that “what was needed for the eurozone to become a viable economic entity was fiscal stimulus for periphery countries in exchange for deep and meaningful reforms that would be politically acceptable to the core countries”.

It would be hard to argue that this is anything other than an eminently sensible statement. The economies of the eurozone have been going nowhere fast. Unemployment is stuck in double digits.

Light at the end of the tunnel is still a long way off. Something needs to be done to reduce the level of despair that exists before the proverbial devil makes other uses for idle hands.