David Cameron Again Butts in to European Affairs

     At this point what is it that Britain's Conservative Prime Minister wants? He is not in the Euro for which he is lucky. This is a good thing as it means that Britain is under no threat of seeing its borrowing costs spike. The bad news is Cameron has imposed growth killing austerity measures anyway despite the fact that Britain's bonds are cheaper than Germany's the second most demanded debt behind the U.S.

     That Britain is not in the Euro ought to be an occasion for gratitude-and not austerity. However rather than being grateful. Mr. Cameron has shown a not very becoming tendency to offer unsolicited "advice" about what the EU needs to do-structural reforms, austerity, etc. French Prime Minister Nicholas Sarkozy caused quite a stir recently by telling Cameron in refreshingly clear terms to basically mind his own business.

     But rather than taking this good advice he is at it again, acting as a fly in the ointment as France and Germany are trying to get an agreement in place for greater fiscal union. Germany is troublesome enough without Britain threatening things they have no business even getting mixed up in. To be sure there's some blackmail involved:

    "Cameron faces pressure from Eurosceptics in his Conservative party to loosen Britain's ties with the EU and secure guarantees that any move towards fiscal union on the continent does not harm the interests of the City of London financial center."

     http://www.cnbc.com/id/45526332

     "Sarkozy tried to persuade him to allow stricter budget discipline procedures for the euro zone without insisting on returning powers over social and judicial affairs from Brussels to London or seeking a veto right over EU financial regulation."

      Meanwhile it's clear that German President Angela Merkel far from gets it even at this late hour:

      "German Chancellor Angela Merkel called earlier for rapid but limited treaty change to remedy what she sees as the root causes of Europe's raging sovereign debt crisis, warning that Europeans faced a "marathon" to regain lost credibility."

        "The chancellor will travel to Paris on Monday to outline joint proposals with Sarkozy for treaty changes to create coercive powers to reject national budgets and impose automatic sanctions on serial deficit sinners."

         The passion for "structural reforms" never dies out. "Next Friday's EU summit is seen by some as make-or-break for the euro zone after a string of half-measures agreed too late by European leaders over nearly two years have failed to stop bond market contagion spreading from Greece to Ireland, Portugal and now Italy and Spain."

         With the U.S. economy showing signs of expansion sure hope Europe is not going to make the rest of the world sick with its problems.