The sight of Europe's central bankers and finance ministers lining up to deny there is any reason for the continued slide in the value of the euro is akin to watching someone trying to stare down an avalanche.

The currency has quite enough problems in establishing its credibility as a currency representing a disparate group of economies in the face of the continuing strength of the US economy and a British rival boosted by higher interest rates. It does not need to heap problems on itself by allowing one of its more controversial members to breach agreed targets within six months of its debut.

As Jean Claude Trichet, governor of the French central bank and a member of the European Central Bank governing council said, when the ECB dropped rates in April, it did so on the basis that the growth and stability pact provisions would be strictly adhered to.