Scaling the summit

摘要

Second marriages supposedly represent the triumph of hope over experience. Similarly, in the lead-up to every eu summit, investors become optimistic that this time-finally-leaders will manufacture a solution to the debt crisis. So it was with the latest summit on December 8th and 9th, due to take place after The Economist went to press. Beforehand, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had thrashed out a deal which promises future restrictions on the ability of euro-zone countries to run large fiscal deficits.