Last weekend the British press overflowed with coverage of David Cameron's veto of the Eurozone deal to tighten monitoring and surveillance rules for fiscal disobedience. The Brits feared that a treaty change drawing in the wider Europe-27 countries was the wedge to open the door to further incursions by Brussels in areas like banking regulation, labour laws and tax harmonisation. Granted, Cameron's veto was not the most diplomatic of moves. But the reaction by Germany and France was a convenient cover for the fact that the deal struck did nothing about the underlying debt and austerity problem which is steadily pushing the Eurozone towards disaster - one that could affect the global economy. Other non-European Euro economies also had their doubts, including Hungary and Sweden. Hungary is particularly opposed to any tax harmonisation. This is also true of countries within the Zone like Ireland and Malta which have very favourable tax regimes for investors. However, they elected not to make a stand at the time. Even France will baulk at having the man from Brussels interfering with its fiscal sovereignty. Much water will still pass under this bridge and the British will soon find themselves much less isolated. The QSL is from Radio Budapest, heard on shortwave in Cape Town on the 25 mb way back in 1967. This is one of the more attractive cards from the communist countries of the day.
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