Northern member states unite on euro-zone reform

IN THE LATE Middle Ages the Hanseatic League, a confederation of merchant guilds in northern Europe, dominated maritime trade in the Baltic and North seas. Now finance ministers from the northern states, characterised by their fiscally hawkish and free-market views, are hoping to set the course for reforms to the European Union. Composed of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden, the group, dubbed the New Hanseatic League, is starting to have some influence.

The immediate impulse for the alliance, which first assembled over dinner in Brussels about a year ago, is Brexit. The group had considered its interests well enough represented as long as Britain’s free-market stance and Germany’s fiscal prudence tempered the French enthusiasm for “solidarity” (ie, redistribution) and protectionism. But Britain’s withdrawal means that they have lost a champion of openness.