His message has hit home with many leaders in the Third World because for them the challenge of dealing with generations of indigence looms so large.

FORBES: A New Kind of Entitlement

Irked by what they consider to be the euro zone's habit of rewarding indigence and penalising thrift, and concerned about what they see as a drift towards fiscal union, some senior Slovaks are even threatening to dump the common currency altogether.

ECONOMIST: Slovakia and the euro