It is somewhat comforting to see Germany, so often quoted as the economic powerhouse of Europe, coming to the European Commission complete with begging bowl on behalf of floundering building giant Holzmann.

To be fair, it was asking permission, as required, to use its own Exchequer funds to guarantee the rescue, rather than EU money, but it gave more regular supplicants a certain degree of satisfaction.

Of more interest was German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's intervention in the first place. On top of his precipitate action in speaking out against hostile takeover bids for German companies just as Britain's Vodafone was embarking on such a bid for telecoms giant Mannesmann, the Holzmann action questions his free market credentials.

On a lighter note, his declaration after orchestrating an agreement with Holzmann's bankers not to foreclose on the hapless group - that "the banks have accepted their responsibility towards society and the economy as a whole. We'll make sure it stays that way" - would be interesting if superimposed on our own financial services sector's view of its role.

Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie