Southern Europe is reforming itself

THE ACRONYMPIGSEU. stuck for a decade, no matter how bitterly the countries it lumped together moaned about it. Being branded one of the —short for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain—as the euro teetered was to be the perennial butt of bond-market bullying, Eurocrat nagging and German tabloid contempt. But look today and the bloc’s Mediterranean fringe is doing rather well. Those once stuck in the muck in the aftermath of the global financial crisis are now flying high. Southern Europeans are running their countries with the competence and reformist zeal all too often lacking in their northern neighbours. It may be a flash in the pan. But if it endures, it will come to change the nature of the The political stars in Europe these days are found down in what used to be termed “the periphery”. On January 30th António Costa led his Socialist party to an absolute majority in Portuguese parliamentary elections, obviating the need for ungainly coalitions of the sort now hobbling Germany. On the opposite side of both the continent and the political spectrum, Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece is the centre-right’s undisputed idol, recently hosting Valérie Pécresse of France as she sought to burnish her Macron-beating credentials. Between the two is Mario Draghi, who looks set for a longer stint as Italy’s prime minister after the prospect of his promotion to the presidency revealed a lack of any other politician who could hold his disparate coalition together. By bidding for the top job Mr Draghi miscalculated. But he was lucky: to be seen as the only calming force in Italy’s choppy political waters adds to the already considerable credibility he enjoys. And he may become president in a year or two.