The above is a cartoon which appeared in The Economist, that neatly sums up the implications of the Socialist win in the French presidential elections. German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is meeting French president, François Hollande, for dinner at Das Austerity Euro-Café. Austerity preaching Merkel is having a miniscule single sausage for dinner, while Hollande is enjoying a sumptuous repast and obviously ordering the most expensive wine from the list.

The cartoon would be funnier if it weren’t so true. Austerity is now suffering a retreat on the order of Napoleon’s retreat from Russia in the winter of 1815. Her Christian Democratic Union party suffered its worst post WWII defeat in last weekend’s North Rhine-Westphalia elections. It is now looking like Germany will have to accept a higher inflation rate as the price for bailing out Europe, something it is loath to do. Needless to say, this is terrible news for the Euro