That, of course, includes Germany.Mr Sikorski went on to highlight the fragility of the EU's institutions and procedures: they work "tolerably well" when times are good, but depend on "goodwill and a sense of propriety" that frays quickly in a crisis.
"In the long run, financial institutions... do depend on goodwill from the rest of society.
It is also worth clarifying that the agreements mentioned above are so-called gentlemen's agreements, they are not law, and their utility depends on goodwill and communication within the community, not unlike attribution and the way scientists use citation to give credit.
Universities have grown used to depending on our goodwill to heap more upon us while degrading our working conditions and it's time to stop".
But in a recent defence of finance capitalism, Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales conceded that free markets are vulnerable to attack in downturns because they rest on fragile foundations, depending on the goodwill of politicians for their existence.
She added: "You cannot be in a position where you really don't know from one day to the next whether you can get on a bus or not depending on the goodwill of that company, or the driver, or a number of other factors".
Either way, the underlying implication is that avoiding this scenario ultimately depends on the goodwill of one man.
Its success, he says, will largely depend on political goodwill.
