European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has just floated a proposal to subject all Union members -- not just eurozone members -- to more rigorous budget scrutiny by Union organs. The move is so contrary to the Union treaties and its scope so overreaching to the current eurozone debt crisis that it is doomed to fail.
Yesterday's resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a loss to comedians everywhere. Which other world leader can possibly fill the void? It was easy to bid "avtio" to George Papandreou earlier this week. Aside from his comically large moustache, there was nothing very funny about the way he drove Greece into bankruptcy, while threatening to take the whole rest of the EU down with him. But give Berlusconi this: the guy steered his country to ruin with, well, not style exactly -- maybe chutzpah. It's one thing simply to overpay state workers -- quite another to host "Bunga Bunga" sex parties while your country burns.