You can always tell when Brussels is nervous, because the delusional drivel warp factor hits nine on the scale.

So it is that Bloomberg gives us:

..and Berenberg economics trots out this:

I particularly enjoyed, “Labour reform catapults Italy near to EU top”. How can an opinion work a catapult, I wonder.

You may have noticed that the ‘source’ for this crap is Brussels…and the ‘sentiment’ being tracked is really nothing more than the triumph of hope over experience. Or mind altering drugs. Or possible data-altering bureaucrats. (It’s happened before – remember May 2012 in Italy?)

Yes sports fans, Spain and Italy are up there with Germany in being thrilled and excited about the dazzling economic future that lies ahead of them.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth:

* The € lost a cent against both $ and £ this morning

* Spain’s left-wing protest Party Podemos is growing faster than Syriza

* Austria  –  where banking reality has finally hit – they’re not very happy at all

* France – where deficit reality has finally hit – is also in a fit of glums

* Greece is negative, but the EC saw fit not to mention it. (I’m now doing so – and with a bit of luck I’ll get away with it)

* The 2015 debt-to-GDP forecast for Italy is 133%, with growth forecast at 0.8%….so that’s really going to mean a massive drop in the water table.

Watch all this vapourise when the next few days of Δαυίδ v Goliath begin to unravel.