Saturday, April 20, 2013

Embarrassing friend

Eurocrats recycle the wording for the statements from one event to the next. So what they leave out between statements is often as revealing as what's left in. Example: here's a sentence from the concluding statement of the EU finance ministers meeting in February --

EMPHASISES that sound and sustainable public finances are an essential prerequisite for market confidence and macroeconomic stability, and hence for growth.

Now here's the equivalent section of the sentence from the statement of EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn to the IMF Spring Meetings --

Sound and sustainable public finances are an essential prerequisite for macroeconomic stability and hence for growth.

Note: they've dumped the claim that austerity has to be done to keep the markets happy.