A celebration of EU "successes"

In his speech to EU Heads of Delegation, Herman Van Rompuy has highlighted the great successes achieved during his tenure as President of the European Council:


First of all: we have come a very long way. In almost three years we have re-enforced rules 

for oversight of budgets, bubbles and banks; built rescue mechanisms; developed 

assistance programmes for countries in difficulty; embarked upon a path of fiscal 

consolidation and structural reform in all Member States; and on top of that we are 

stepping up our joint investment in growth and jobs.

Van Rompuy appears to live in his cosy little haiku world, far away from the evils of the real world surrounding him. 

This is the sad reality today: 

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the euro zone, published by Markit, showed the economic rot that began in smaller periphery members of the 17-nation bloc is now taking hold even in Germany, its largest and strongest economy.

"There is very little in the overall euro zone PMIs to suggest an imminent recovery. The figures are consistent with the economy returning to a technical recession," said Philip Shaw at Investec.

PS

But maybe the gloom and doom has a silver lining?: 

The External Action Service has now reached its cruising speed! It is one of High Representative Cathy Ashton's many successes. 

We will apparently have to wait for Van Rompuy´s next speech in order to get some more information about Baroness Ashton´s "many successes". (My suspicion is that it will be a very short speech.)

Meanwhile, there are people who are not as convinced about Cathy Ashton´s achievements.