The public’s lack of confidence in the EU’s political leadership is totally justified. Instead of actually doing something constructive about Europe’s essential problem --reforming expensive welfare states to ensure global competitiveness--Europe’s political leaders are hiding behind straw man arguments about “ultra liberal Anglo Saxon models,” and pressuring the ECB to lower interest rates as if European economic weakness were Frankfurt’s fault.
正如不光彩的布鲁塞尔峰会所清楚表现出的那样，这种对欧盟政治领导层的信任的缺乏是完全有道理的。欧洲的政治领导人并没有真正地为解决欧洲基本问题做一些有建设性的事情——改革高额福利国家以保证他们能适应全球化的竞争，相反他们却用有关“极端自由的盎格鲁-萨克逊典范”、英国的预算返款以及高利率的论调作幌子，好像经济衰退是欧洲中央银行的过错一样。