Maybe not so triumphant, then?
Unfortunately none of our resident German speakers are in the house, but the story seems to be saying that Merkel’s success at securing a fiscal pact between 25 of the 27 EU member states is maybe not so great after all, because, as Google translates it:
Thanks clumsy tactical maneuvering within the federal government, they must fight back against the image of the evil German Savings Commissioner.
They’ve got a point. Apparently the CDU and FDP liked the idea. Everyone outside Germany, not so much (including, presumably, the Belgian strikers protesting outside the summit, which the Der Spiegel story also mentions). And Sarko joined the fray last night:
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said the German proposal for the EU to control Greece’s budget decision-making “would not be reasonable, not be democratic nor would it be effective”. He said that he had confronted Angela Merkel, his German counterpart, with his views and insisted she had agreed.
It’s interesting (we think) that the German mainstream press are getting concerned about this antipathy towards Commissioner Germany.
Related links:
Budget overlord will not solve eurozone woes - FT
Another summit bites the dust – Macrobusiness
Greece doesn’t need a fiscal nanny - Deutsche Welle
EU Nears Confrontation Over Greek Rescue – Bloomberg