They're calling it a "golden rule": A treaty signed by 25 of the European Union's 27 leaders has each promising to make a balanced budget a part of their national constitution. The idea is to make a binding agreement for the countries to stay within their financial means, essentially by way of peer pressure: "Eurozone countries will scrutinise each other's budgets and the European Court of Justice will be able to check whether nations stick to the rules. It will fine them up to 0.1% of national GDP if they fail to do so," reported the BBC. It's seen as a victory for Germany, which has the largest economy of the euro zone. Britain and the Czech republic abstained from the agreement, the Czechs because of a political split within their own government, and the U.K. because it has no plans to adopt the Euro, though Prime Minister David Cameron did say British suggestions for cutting red tape and boosting growth had been accepted by the EU leadership, BBC reported.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at amartin at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Martin