Thanks to all these failings, the government has been forced to accept a big rise in the cost of the bail-out and taxpayers are having to pay almost all of it.

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Inspired by the True Finns in Helsinki, the Swedes and Danes who had never joined the euro refused to accept the German proposal for a "transfer union" to bail out Southern Europe.

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The conservative National Action Party has been less critical, but was expected to propose, late this week, a compromise that the government might accept: turn most of the bonds into public debt, but put some of the cost of the bail-out back on to the banks.

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