Tell us how you really feel, Ambrose

AEP has spoken, and he ain’t impressed with the EU summit either…

It tarts up the old Stability Pact without changing the substance (although there will be prior vetting of budgets). This “fiscal compact” is not going to make to make the slightest impression on global markets, and they are the judges who matter in this trial by fire.

Yes, there is more discipline for fiscal sinners, but without any transforming help. Even the old “Marshall Plan” of the July summit has bitten the dust.

There is no shared debt issuance, no fiscal transfers, no move to an EU Treasury, no banking licence for the ESM rescue fund, and no change in the mandate of the European Central Bank.

In short, there is no breakthrough of any kind that will convince Asian investors that this monetary union has viable governance or even a future.

His take on Sarkozy’s performance? Priceless:

But the vain and hysterical little man now in the Elysée will soon be gone. A leader will emerge once more with a “certaine idée de la France”.