IPEG your pardon

The more socialists want things to change...

Rui Tavares sits at a small podium as he faces the audience in the crowded library in Lisbon. ....

"Ulysses" is the name the 41-year-old has given to an ambitious economic policy project with which aims to redefine the roles of southern European countries like Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain in the EU.

"Above all, we want to achieve one thing. We no longer want the countries in the south of Europe to be called PIGS."

Have it your way,  Itália, Portugal, Espanha, Grécia but, the more things seem the same old sow's ear;

Tavares says solving the sovereign debt crisis must no longer be a national task. Instead, the crisis has to be solved by Europe as a whole. He wants the EU to set up its own, independent financial institution similar to the International Monetary Fund and controlled by the European Parliament. The problems in the south of Europe could be solved with an economic stimulus package, like the Marshall plan set up after World War Two, Tavares says.

Without the bombing?