In the recent turmoil connected with the frantic efforts to shore up the euro, blamed on the mainly Mediterrranean profigates Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, gleefully grouped by northerners under the acronym PIGS, it was conveniently forgotten that both France and Germany had exceeded the limits on budget deficits years earlier, thus setting a bad example leading to the notion that the limits were not all that rigid. Now, the EU finance ministers, backed by eventual ratifications at the national level, have put their foot down.

The first test of the new financial discipline measures may soon be upon the EU. The Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) estimates that the nation’s budget deficit could be 4.6 per cent of the GDP as early as next year. This is clearly higher than the three per cent limit. Will the solution be to change the acronym, the limits or to reopen the whole debate? Let’s hope that the CPB is wrong.