France and Germany

 Four interesting articles.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,830594,00.html
Austerity backlash.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9239450/Europe-needs-creativity-not-billions-of-euros-says-German-Chancellor-Angela-Merkel.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9239606/Electoral-silence-on-Frances-slow-economic-decline.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,830642,00.html
The man who always smiles.

In the event of Hollande winning the French presidential election the future direction of the eurozone will be interesting.

Not forgetting that the Greeks have a general election this weekend and the coalition government in the Netherlands has failed to approve the fiscal pact and a general election will be held in September.  We are entering a new and potentially even more destructive phase of the eurozone crisis