Day one of the EU heads of government summit may have broken up after 1 a.m., but European officials were already up early Friday to conduct their regular post-mortem of the drawn out fight from the night before.

At a breakfast with reporters, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said that too much attention had been paid to the dust-up over the demand by German chancellor Angela Merkel to reopen the EU’s treaties in order to insert new language aimed at preventing another Greek-style crisis.

Mr Barroso noted that the EU leaders unanimously endorsed a set of new budget rules – the product of months of sometimes contentious negotiations – that would enable the EU to fine member states who regularly violate eurozone debt norms.

Multiple leaders at Thursday’s summit expressed their deep misgivings about engaging in another round of treaty changes, with several insisting that the German goal of setting up a new, permanent bail-out system could be achieved within the existing treaties.

If the idea gets any traction within the closed-door meetings, it could be due to an unexpected proposal from an unexpected place: Finland.

According to a so-called “non-paper” – diplo-speak for an unofficial proposal – that has been circulated by the Finnish finance ministry and obtained by the Financial Times, much of what German chancellor Angela Merkel wants through treaty change could be achieved by simply attaching new rules to national bond issuances.