Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, and his finance minister, Jan Kees de Jager, are in the news today. They are calling for a “budget tsar” appointed by the European Union to dictate taxes and spending in eurozone countries. The tsar would also have the power to kick countries out of the eurozone. The Union is not even a republic, let alone an empire, though. Calling for a tsar is a bit premature, to say the least. But it shows clearly enough how poorly the euro is doing. Now that panic has started in earnest, the bewildered politicians are calling for a leader, albeit in economic affairs only. The Union is nothing but a market, anyhow. And a poorly managed one at that. Returning to the panic, it will only deepen with the economic crisis, which is deepening all the time. Soon enough the electorate will also be calling for a tsar, but a real one this time.