Ignorance and reticence. Interminable discussions on budgetary deficits, the application of the "Maastricht criteria", the calendar for the generalised realisation of national budgetary balances etc., create the impression for the moment of a saga of ignorance and a discourse that is non-committal. Many of those who speak or write appear to have just discovered EMU rules and are not aware, for example, of a certain flexibility in the calculation of the ceiling (3%) in the budgetary deficits...