As Peter Oborne observed on Newsnight recently, there is a tendency in the Eurozone to think its problems
are political, rather than an economic crisis that cannot be wished away. For example, the Bundestag's much vaunted approval of an expanded EFSF has done little to alleviate Europe's
weakness. Here's why:
1) We all knew the vote would pass: the opposition support made sure of that. The key point was that Angela Merkel got an absolute majority. It was a close call, but it always seemed likely that
she would gain enough support from the flailing junior coalition party, the FDP, which, given its collapsing poll results, was unlikely to threaten the stability of the coalition for fear of
further falls.
