Two days ago, when we laid out the components of Merkel and Macron’s blueprint to reform the EU , we said that while “Macron suggested the proposal will be presented to other countries, with specifics to be worked out later this year and the plans to take effect from 2021, i t was unclear how he plans to get “other countries” to vote for a proposal which has already led to the alienation of Central and Eastern Europe, Brexit and an openly populist government in Italy .” We did not have to wait long for confirmation, because just two days later, Europe’s two self-proclaimed leaders were facing an unexpected backlash from most other European governments against the German and French plans for a common eurozone budget, dealing a blow to the two countries’ ambitions for a big overhaul of the single currency area. As the FT reports , the rest of Europe’s “core”, including the Netherlands, Austria and Finland are among 12 governments questioning the need for any...
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