What we talk about when we talk about Germany

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, has a nice summary of the debate up on his group's website, with some telling insights about the mood in France over the recent bluster from Berlin ... But Mr Grant also points out how destabilising even the narrowly-focused treaty changes envisioned by the 27 countries could be. Even if Ireland and Denmark are able to avoid referenda on the new language - which could be just a sentence or two added to the Lisbon treaty - other countries could cause problems, Mr Grant notes.