New EU treaty lets Germany, France off the hook

Apparently we have another new treaty which requires members of the eurozone to set up a legislative ‘debt brake’ and if they don’t adhere to it, as yet undetermined sanctions will be automatically applied.

It’s not clear whether the relevant minister has to travel to Berlin to be punished, or if German officials will travel to them — at that country’s expense, of course.

The 1997 Stability and Growth Pact included sanctions for countries whose budget deficit exceeded 3% of GDP and whose national debt exceeded 60% of GDP, but in March 2005 Germany and France pushed for a softening of the rules of the pact.