Slovenia＇s Prime Minister Barut Pahor (L), Germany＇s Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) and Finland＇s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen attend a European Union summit in Brussels December 9, 2011.
European leaders are sharply divided over a new fiscal treaty to tackle the eurozone crisis, with Britain and Hungary refusing to join a pact spearheaded by France and Germany.
After marathon talks that lasted into early Friday morning, France and Germany did get the 17 members of the struggling eurozone to sign on to their plan for creating a more fiscally responsible and more integrated governance structure. European Union president Herman van Rumpoy spelled out some of the details to reporters.
"It means we all commit to a new European, strong fiscal rule," he said. "It means member states will transpose it to their constitution or its equivalent. It means reinforcing rules on excessive deficit procedure by making them more automatic. It also means member states will have to submit their draft budgetary plans to the commission."
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged that hopes to get all 27 EU members to agree to the deal had failed.
Sarkozy said France and Germany would have preferred all 27 states to endorse the deal, but that was not possible, given British opposition. So it will be adopted by the 17 members sharing the euro currency and all others who want to join. Besides Britain, Hungary has also ruled out joining. Sweden and the Czech Republic need to consult their governments.
Explaining his refusal to join the deal, British Prime Minister David Cameron said it had been a hard decision - but the right one.
I [said if] I couldn＇t get adequate safeguards for Britain in a new European treaty then I wouldn＇t agree to it," Cameron explained. "What is on offer isn＇t in Britain＇s interests, so I didn＇t agree to it."
The new treaty aims to offer a long-term solution to the two-year-old eurozone sovereign debt and banking crisis that has spread from Greece, Ireland and Portugal to threaten larger economies like Italy and Spain.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor＇s has threatened to downgrade almost all members of the eurozone, along with the EU and a number of large European banks. In an early reaction, the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi has praised the new deal. But others fear it will weaken EU unity and create a so-called "two-speed" Europe - made up of those who want more integration and those - like Britain, who don＇t.
EU leaders also agreed on several short-term measures to stem the eurozone crisis, including strengthening funding firewalls to prevent the crisis from spreading. They continued talks Friday to spell out details of the new treaty, among other issues. |
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