During the evening of Monday 18 October, after more than 11 hours of negotiation, European economy and finance ministers agreed on the most ambitious reform of the Stability and Growth Pact since its creation in 1997. The compromise was facilitated by a political agreement between French and German leaders Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, who met the same day in Deauville. The text of the Franco-German declaration on European economic governance is published in the EUROPE Document...