‘Stability pact. Stop, Helmut! It’ll give you cramp!’ On 15 December 1996, following the Dublin European Summit, French cartoonist Plantu illustrates the difficult negotiations between President Jacques Chirac (on the left) and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (on the right) over the final details of the Stability and Growth Pact. This pact, which has been adopted by the 15 Heads of State or Government, sets the rules for budgetary discipline that the countries in the euro zone will need to observe after the introduction of the single currency in January 1999. Chancellor Kohl, depicted as Moses returning from Mount Sinai, is holding aloft the tablet inscribed with the regulations of the Stability Pact to emphasise their importance.