Europe’s Choreographers Must Yield Floor to Voters: View

If it seems as though the past week’s events in Europe are unfolding like a well-choreographed dance ahead of a two-day summit starting today, they are.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi called the tune by hinting on Dec. 1 that he might do more to fight Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis if the euro area agreed to a new fiscal compact. Within days, Italy’s Cabinet, led by Mario Monti, the new technocratic prime minister, proposed painful budget cuts to tame the country’s debt. The next day, the German and French leaders, in a trademark pas de deux, agreed on strict procedures to deal with fiscal sinners that all 17 members of the currency bloc would have to adopt. Yesterday, officials discussed how to beef up a rescue fund that would spring into action in 2012, a year earlier than planned. The ECB took action today by cutting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 1 percent, matching a record low.