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EU leaders agree to tighten economic governance, but risk problems with treaty change
14:34, October 30, 2010
European Union (EU) leaders may have stepped into a diplomatic and legal minefield by agreeing on Friday to change the treaty which underpins their union in order to introduce new measures to bolster the stability of the euro.
Germany and France united to steamroller opposition from smaller nations to ensure the EU summit agreed to amend the Lisbon Treaty, which only came into force last December after almost a decade of painstaking negotiations and referendum votes that frequently gridlocked EU decision-making.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued that the relatively minor changes to the treaty required for tighter economic governance in the eurozone will not need a significant re- negotiation of the document.
However, the decision to tinker with the Lisbon Treaty may open opportunities for politicians in the 27 EU member states to unpick treaty provisions they are unhappy with, and raise the specter of complicated ratification processes, even the dreaded prospect of referendums, in some countries.
The very fact that EU leaders devoted so much time at their autumn summit to the intricacies of the bloc's internal workings underscored the concerns of those who hoped that the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty marked a hiatus in EU navel gazing, especially since issues such as the upcoming G20 summit and global climate change talks were pushed down the summit agenda.
"This (revising the treaty) should not become our hobby. We would have preferred to avoid it," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The need for Europe to do something to bolster its economic governance was clear to all the leaders going into the summit. The crisis in Greek finances early this year shook the eurozone to its roots, calling into question the very survival of the currency shared by 16 of the EU nations.
As the crisis spread from Greece to threaten Spain, Portugal and Ireland, the EU stepped in with a 440-billion-euro (610 billion U.S. dollars) emergency fund to shore up the finances of eurozone nations if their debts spiral out of control. This week's agreement aims to set up a permanent safety net to replace the emergency fund which is due to expire in 2013.
It also calls for changes to the rule book to make it easier to impose meaningful sanctions against nations that threaten the stability of the eurozone by running up excessive budget deficits.
Merkel was fearful that such moves might be incompatible with the current wording of the EU treaty and would risk a legal challenge at Germany's powerful constitutional court. So she battled with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manual Barroso, and leaders of smaller nations to ensure that the necessary wording is enshrined in the treaty.
The talks dragged on into the small hours of the morning, but as usual when France and Germany agreed in advance, they managed to overcome opposition from the EU's smaller states.
"This is a clear example of me standing up for the stability of the euro," Merkel told reporters after the summit. "I think it is important to create a clear culture of stability ... Europe makes us strong but this Europe needs rules."
The exact nature of the treaty changes was not immediately agreed. Instead the leaders tasked Herman Van Rompuy, the former Belgian prime minister who serves as the chairman of EU summits, to produce proposals that can be agreed at the next summit in December.
The idea is that the changes can be ratified by all member nations by the time the emergency funding mechanism runs out in mid-2013. Some EU finance officials expressed concern that such drawn out procedures would not help efforts to strengthen market confidence in eurozone nations.
The leaders said the new permanent fund should involve the private sector and the International Monetary Fund. They also agreed on the need for closer surveillance of national budgets to ensure they do not slip into a Greece-style mess and on tougher measures to punish those that allow lax finances to threaten eurozone stability.
A German proposal for those punishments to include a suspension of nations' voting rights in EU meetings ran into opposition, although the summit's closing conclusions still hold out that prospect in the "case of a permanent threat to the stability of the euro area as a whole."
The leaders stressed that the "limited treaty change" required would not lead to a transfer of power from national capitals to the EU headquarters in Brussels, a move that would trigger referendums on the treaty in countries such as Britain and Ireland.
Voters have a tendency to reject EU treaties when they are presented in referendums. Irish voters initially rejected the Lisbon Treaty, plunging the EU into a year-long crisis, before they were asked to vote again in 2009. French and Dutch votes sunk a previous effort to give the EU a constitutional basis.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen both expressed confidence that the limited changes would not need referendum votes, but both could face challenges from powerful euro-skeptic lobbies at home.
Cameron led a charge against a proposal from the European Parliament to increase the EU's own operating budget by 5.9 percent. The leaders agreed that the increase should be limited to 2.9 percent.
The EU's budget is currently 123 billion euros (170 billion dollars) based on contributions from the member nations, and the money is mostly spent on support for farmers, poorer regions within the EU and aid to developing nations.
The EU leaders did find some time to discuss the November G20 summit in Seoul, calling for greater coordination in economic governance.
They also agreed on a position ahead of the Cancun climate conference starting next month, confirming the EU's willingness to extend commitments under the Kyoto agreement and offering to cut greenhouse gas emissions beyond their current 20-percent target if there are matching engagements from other nations.
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Cosa ne pensano i cinesi attraverso questo commento del "Quotidiano del Popolo".
14:34, October 30, 2010
European Union (EU) leaders may have stepped into a diplomatic and legal minefield by agreeing on Friday to change the treaty which underpins their union in order to introduce new measures to bolster the stability of the euro.
Germany and France united to steamroller opposition from smaller nations to ensure the EU summit agreed to amend the Lisbon Treaty, which only came into force last December after almost a decade of painstaking negotiations and referendum votes that frequently gridlocked EU decision-making.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued that the relatively minor changes to the treaty required for tighter economic governance in the eurozone will not need a significant re- negotiation of the document.
However, the decision to tinker with the Lisbon Treaty may open opportunities for politicians in the 27 EU member states to unpick treaty provisions they are unhappy with, and raise the specter of complicated ratification processes, even the dreaded prospect of referendums, in some countries.
The very fact that EU leaders devoted so much time at their autumn summit to the intricacies of the bloc's internal workings underscored the concerns of those who hoped that the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty marked a hiatus in EU navel gazing, especially since issues such as the upcoming G20 summit and global climate change talks were pushed down the summit agenda.
"This (revising the treaty) should not become our hobby. We would have preferred to avoid it," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The need for Europe to do something to bolster its economic governance was clear to all the leaders going into the summit. The crisis in Greek finances early this year shook the eurozone to its roots, calling into question the very survival of the currency shared by 16 of the EU nations.
As the crisis spread from Greece to threaten Spain, Portugal and Ireland, the EU stepped in with a 440-billion-euro (610 billion U.S. dollars) emergency fund to shore up the finances of eurozone nations if their debts spiral out of control. This week's agreement aims to set up a permanent safety net to replace the emergency fund which is due to expire in 2013.
It also calls for changes to the rule book to make it easier to impose meaningful sanctions against nations that threaten the stability of the eurozone by running up excessive budget deficits.
Merkel was fearful that such moves might be incompatible with the current wording of the EU treaty and would risk a legal challenge at Germany's powerful constitutional court. So she battled with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manual Barroso, and leaders of smaller nations to ensure that the necessary wording is enshrined in the treaty.
The talks dragged on into the small hours of the morning, but as usual when France and Germany agreed in advance, they managed to overcome opposition from the EU's smaller states.
"This is a clear example of me standing up for the stability of the euro," Merkel told reporters after the summit. "I think it is important to create a clear culture of stability ... Europe makes us strong but this Europe needs rules."
The exact nature of the treaty changes was not immediately agreed. Instead the leaders tasked Herman Van Rompuy, the former Belgian prime minister who serves as the chairman of EU summits, to produce proposals that can be agreed at the next summit in December.
The idea is that the changes can be ratified by all member nations by the time the emergency funding mechanism runs out in mid-2013. Some EU finance officials expressed concern that such drawn out procedures would not help efforts to strengthen market confidence in eurozone nations.
The leaders said the new permanent fund should involve the private sector and the International Monetary Fund. They also agreed on the need for closer surveillance of national budgets to ensure they do not slip into a Greece-style mess and on tougher measures to punish those that allow lax finances to threaten eurozone stability.
A German proposal for those punishments to include a suspension of nations' voting rights in EU meetings ran into opposition, although the summit's closing conclusions still hold out that prospect in the "case of a permanent threat to the stability of the euro area as a whole."
The leaders stressed that the "limited treaty change" required would not lead to a transfer of power from national capitals to the EU headquarters in Brussels, a move that would trigger referendums on the treaty in countries such as Britain and Ireland.
Voters have a tendency to reject EU treaties when they are presented in referendums. Irish voters initially rejected the Lisbon Treaty, plunging the EU into a year-long crisis, before they were asked to vote again in 2009. French and Dutch votes sunk a previous effort to give the EU a constitutional basis.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen both expressed confidence that the limited changes would not need referendum votes, but both could face challenges from powerful euro-skeptic lobbies at home.
Cameron led a charge against a proposal from the European Parliament to increase the EU's own operating budget by 5.9 percent. The leaders agreed that the increase should be limited to 2.9 percent.
The EU's budget is currently 123 billion euros (170 billion dollars) based on contributions from the member nations, and the money is mostly spent on support for farmers, poorer regions within the EU and aid to developing nations.
The EU leaders did find some time to discuss the November G20 summit in Seoul, calling for greater coordination in economic governance.
They also agreed on a position ahead of the Cancun climate conference starting next month, confirming the EU's willingness to extend commitments under the Kyoto agreement and offering to cut greenhouse gas emissions beyond their current 20-percent target if there are matching engagements from other nations.
***
Cosa ne pensano i cinesi attraverso questo commento del "Quotidiano del Popolo".
