Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary and Harvard economist, today took Germany to task for its emphasis on fiscal discipline as the eurozone is teetering on the brink of deflation.

"Is it too much to ask that Germany take a forward looking view of a common European destiny in thinking about [macroeconomic] policy going forward," he said, "rather than retaining a green eye shade accounting mentality as populism, radicalism, and nationalism spread across the continent?"

"We can all hope