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But the assistance is "an act of self-preservation" rather than an act of friendly charity, according to Philip Whyte, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. "Implicit in the bailout of Ireland's banks is the bailout of one's own banking system."

"It is over-egging it to say that Germany has become a dynamic growth motor for the rest of Europe," says Simon Tilford at the Centre for European Reform, a London think-tank. "If foreign demand for German products falls, we could see a renewed push by German companies to reduce wage costs and renewed stagnation of domestic demand."

Elsewhere, Philip Whyte of the Centre for European Reform, a British research organisation, foresaw "deeply pernicious consequences" if Germany's economy emerges as the EU benchmark for everyone else. "A more German eurozone," he wrote, "would be afflicted by chronically weak demand, debilitating cycles of competitive wage cuts, and prolonged economic slumps in the deficit countries."

"The plan has caused political consternation and market panic," observes Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank.

The Centre for European Reform's chief economist Simon Tilford says: "I don't think the current membership of the euro is written in stone." For a country to leave, he says, would be "very messy and risky" but it is no longer inconceivable. … Would Italy [which already has huge debts] be able to underwrite another X billion of debt, given that the markets might be sceptical they would get it back? I don't know," Tilford says.

"Die Körperschaftsteuer gehörte zu Faktoren, die die irische Wirtschaft über Jahre haben wachsen lassen, auch wenn sie nicht allein für die Ansiedlung einer Vielzahl ausländischer Firmen verantwortlich war", sagt Simon Tilford, Wirtschaftsexperte des Centre for European Reform.

"Obama will continue to think of engaging China as a top US priority, and seek to get along with Russia and other emerging powers," Tomas Valasek of the Centre for European Reform in London, wrote this month. "The issues that will compete for the president's attention over the next few years will be Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East peace process. Neither the EU nor Eastern Europe is likely to move up his agenda."

"Taken out of context there is obviously merit to the Franco-German proposal. But the timing could not have been more damaging," wrote Simon Tilford, chief economist of the Centre for European Reform.

First societies must become strong enough to cope with newcomers, according to Hugo Brady, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. "It's disingenuous to say business needs migrants and we're all getting older so it'll all be fine. It skips over the fact that it doesn't follow that we can solve our demographic problems with lots of immigration. And it ignores the fact that our societies need to be set up for that. I'd be sceptical that societies could absorb immigration on the scale suggested by our demographics.