After four years of veering between panic and complacency during the interminable single-currency crisis, a new mood is sweeping across the eurozone: one of fatigue. While this may lack the drama of past phases, it could prove more politically corrosive.

Stung by deep and persistent recessions in peripheral countries, politicians are increasingly clamouring for flexibility in the austerity agenda. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, added his voice to their number this week, warning that the focus on cuts had gone far enough. Enrico Letta, Italy’s new prime minister, said hardship was driving voters into the arms of populist politicians.

Mr Barroso’s remarks have been viewed in some quarters as signalling a switch in direction. But this could not be more wrong. The commission president lacks the credibility to lead Europe from the front. Mr Letta’s warning is unlikely to cut much ice either. While many governments might privately endorse his views, given Italy’s recent muddled election and the rise of the extreme right in Greece, the fact remains that Germany has a jaundiced view of Italians keen to ease up on austerity when their structural reforms are at best half-complete, tax evasion remains rife and politics remains riddled with corruption.