EU budget summit exposes weak Franco-German relations

It was funny old summit last week. It broke off without agreement on the EU's 2014-2020 budget. But the failure was neither a big surprise nor particularly acrimonious.

Already before the meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, something of a weathervane for EU decisions, said it would be no big drama if agreement only came in spring.

After negotiations, several EU leaders remarked that the mood had been comparatively positive. Indeed, on Friday (24 November) afternoon the bigge...