As readers know, I have long argued that France, Italy, Spain and Club Med allies should gang up in the ECB's governing council and dictate terms, forcing through the reflation policy that the region so desperately needs. They have the votes. They have the legal and treaty authority to do so. Most monetary theorists around the world would egg them on. Yet they seem paralysed, terrified that Germany will storm off and revert to the D-Mark. They should screw their courage to the sticking plate and call Berin's bluff. Should Germany indeed walk out - and inflict crippling loses on its own banks and insurers in the process - this would at least be a solution of sorts. By lancing the boil, it would open the way for a return to growth.