Courtesy of Mish.
In spite of all the headlines and chatter the real winner in the latest of 19 EU summits was none other than German Chancellor Angela Merkel. First lets take a look at numerous headlines that got the story wrong.
Merkel Big Loser
Reuters reports Merkel seen as big loser in euro zone showdown.
Newspapers in Spain, Italy and France on Saturday toasted the triumph of their leaders – Mario Monti, Mariano Rajoy and Francois Hollande – in pushing Merkel into a U-turn that would long have been unthinkable.
Even German newspapers said Merkel had been made to accept demands for the euro zone rescue fund to be able to inject aid directly into stricken banks from next year and intervene on bond markets to support troubled member states.
“There’s no doubt about it – the chancellor was blindsided at the euro summit,” wrote influential columnist Nikolaus Blome of Bild, a daily with 12 million readers.
“Merkel caves in – money for ailing banks,” read the headline on Germany’s left-leaning Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Bild wrote: “Italy and Spain got what they wanted: It’ll be easier to borrow excessively again… It was the first time in more than two crisis years that euro states didn’t follow Germany’s orders.”
Hollande Big Winner
A Bloomberg video proclaims Hollande Emerges as Leader at EU Summit
Double Satisfaction For Italy
The Financial Times says Rajoy real winner despite Monti delight
“It is a double satisfaction for Italy,” said Mario Monti, a reference to both Italy’s victory over Germany in the European football championships and his outflanking of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, forcing her to agree emergency measures she had for months said she would not accept.
But for all of Mr Monti’s chest-beating, the real winner in the early-morning deal was not the courtly economist. It was his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy.
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