Van Rompuy Calls for Another EU Leaders Summit
December 20th, 2011
The European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, announced last Thursday his intention to convene another summit of EU leaders in late January or early February 2012 in order to finalise the new intergovernmental treaty on tightening fiscal discipline in the eurozone, but also in order to discuss how to improve the competitiveness of EU countries and reduce unemployment.
“In times of stagnation and recession it is very important to have these issues on the agenda and not just talk about fiscal consolidation,” he said in a news conference after the bilateral summit between the EU and Russia, with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and European Commission President, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
Van Rompuy stated that in the new summit European leaders will discuss the latest decisions taken by the European Council on 8th and 9th December, to try to end the debt crisis in the eurozone. “The most important is the fiscal pact and the intergovernmental treaty,” he stressed. However, he has made it clear he also wants to discuss issues such as “competitiveness and especially employment” at the highest levels.
Europa Press reported that the European Council President said that the exact date has not yet been set, although it is likely to be around 7th or 8th of February.
The summit will not be limited to the countries of the eurozone – as asked for by German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who called for Eurogroup meetings once a month until the end of the crisis – but will unite all 27 heads of State and Government of the EU, including Britain’s David Cameron.
The UK is currently the only country which has confirmed that it will not join the new fiscal pact. And Cameron has received harsh criticism from the European Parliament for having vetoed a reform of the Treaties to the 27, for not having obtained safeguards for his country’s financial sector.
The European leaders aim to approve the new Treaty of fiscal discipline in early March 2012, and then ratify it as soon as possible thereafter. However, Van Rompuy has admitted that there may be legal challenges for the EU institutions, as the Commission or the Court of Justice should be able to act within the framework of this Treaty.
Three European Parliament representatives will join together in drafting the new Treaty, the German conservative, Elmar Brok, the Italian socialist, Roberto Gualtieri, and the Belgian liberal, Guy Verhofstadt. Green parliamentarian Daniel Cohn-Bendit will act as substitute, stated the European Parliament.
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