For weeks there was lots of gnashing of teeth over whether Spain would have its international weight recognised in this way, and not a word about what Spain's position would be at the summit. I still don't know what the Spanish delegation said there.
When there was a mini-summit of Barroso, Brown and Sarko, it was interpreted as a snub of Merkel and there was some controversy about it. But Spain was happy to not be invited to that summit where, allegedly, Europe's economic stimulus was hashed out.
Frans de Waal has likened politics to the social structure of a pack of chimpanzees. He might be more right than we care to admit. Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
