The European Union has added a definition of honey to recent rules set for chocolate and jam. After a four-year search, ministers were this week rubberstamping legislation saying that "honey is a natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees".

The law, designed to harmonise labels on breakfast tables across the 15-nation bloc, defines everything from honey's sugar content to its electrical conductivity.

With a four-year wait simply to get a definition for honey, you can see why the powers that be in Frankfurt are asking for time to allow the euro mature. The question is, on this basis, how long will that take?