‘Stability pact. Two bus drivers take a casual view. A little more or less alcohol … You have to be flexible about these things …’ On 14 October 2003, German cartoonist Horst Haitzinger takes an ironic view of the inability of Franco-German duo Chirac and Schröder to comply with the criteria of the stability pact, which stipulates that states’ debt must not exceed certain limits. In 2003, the European Commission sends a warning to Germany and France about their excessive deficit.