Some evidence that Europeans, even finance ministers, can have a sense of humor:
“We’re not implementing the Basel agreement, as anyone who takes a look at this text will be able to tell you,” said George Osborne, the British chancellor of the exchequer. “Every bank analyst, every financial journalist, every other finance ministry in the world would say that.” He added, “I am not prepared to go out there and say something that would make me look like an idiot five minutes later.”
Rather than argue with him on details, one finance minister simply asserted that looking like an idiot was standard procedure for ministers.
The Dish 