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"I don't see such a treaty change ever being agreed," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London think-tank. "Other member states will not accede to this in the absence of any recognition on the part of the Germans that they will need to amend their economic strategy if the stability of the euro zone is not to be compromised."

"I find it sinister and silly, it is a complete overreaction," said Philip Whyte of the Centre for European Reform, a pro-European Union research institute in London. "There is a certain school of thought in continental Europe that everything is always the fault of hedge funds." Schaeuble's comments reflected "a longstanding paranoia about the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism."

It has gone really surprisingly well, for the simple reason that it is so relentlessly targeted on this perennial problem that has bedevilled British education for so long for generations, which is the link between social deprivation and educational underperformance, a link which is pretty well stronger than almost anywhere else in Europe. I would like to think people also recognise this is not something I have just alighted on out of nowhere; I first wrote or co-authored a pamphlet about this for the Centre for European Reform. … some nine years ago.

"The concern over speculation is obscuring the underlying issue that Greece and other nations have very precarious fiscal positions," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.

The simple truth is that the Lisbon Treaty can't re-create the EU as a superpower. Says Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank: "It is not personality that denotes power: it is money, guns, political will, and diplomatic influence. When the EU can deploy those efficiently, then other countries will sit up and listen."

One point is that weakening EU competition policy to support national champions is a non-starter given that the US, Japan and, increasingly, China itself are taking a cross-border view of antitrust enforcement. Then there is the economic downside. "Diluting either anti-trust policy or relaxing state-aid rules would undermine Europe's long-term economic prospects, not bolster them," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.

"The EU offers an attractive social, economic and political model," Charles Grant, director of the London-based think-tank the Centre for European Reform, argued last year. "It is more stable, safe, green and culturally diverse than most parts of the world, which is why neighbors want to join and many migrants aim for Europe."

Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, says the Greek crisis reflects a larger economic problem in Europe. EU members like the Netherlands and Germany have spent too little and their economies are driven by exports. Meanwhile, southern economies like Greece and Portugal have spent too much and amassed debts as a result. "So in order to find a lasting solution, we need change on both sides.