A well trailed document. The astonishment, almost wariness, that has surrounded the proposals from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on the institutional advancement of economic and monetary union has been, in my view, excessive. The initiative did not come as a surprise: it had been announced and planned, and it had been scheduled that it would be presented on the sidelines of the Statement by the Heads of State or Government of the Euro Area on 21 July (see our newsletter no 104424). It...