Brussels, 25/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Some Member States have expressed reservations about the request by France and Germany that the Lisbon Treaty should be revised by the end of 2013 in order to introduce a permanent crisis management mechanism for eurozone countries, a request made on Sunday 24 October 2010 at an informal diner of European foreign ministers attended by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg is reported by AFP as commenting on Monday that any changes to the treaty were highly unlikely. The Eurosceptic attitude of the Czech President was one of the factors that held up ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, warned on Monday that there was the danger of the EU spending further months and years bogged down in navel-gazing on its problems, commenting that the deal between the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, had been very badly received by the other European countries, which had been presented with a fait accompli.
The deal struck in the French coastal resort of Deauville on the fringes of a tripartite summit between Germany, France and Russia had considerably influenced the final report by the taskforce on European economic governance headed by Herman Van Rompuy (see EUROPE 10241). Alongside the idea of changing the treaty to make the current eurozone sovereign debt crisis management system permanent, it waters down the automatic nature of the penalties suggested by the European Commission to punish eurozone countries breaching the new Stability and Growth Pact rules.
At the informal lunch, discussions reassured a number of countries which want to avoid any new institutional crisis, commented Belgian foreign minister Steven Vanackere. He said that no member state was calling for any big change in the treaty, wanting changes to be kept to the bare minimum. He suggested that the simplified revision procedure included in the European treaty could be put to use. Asked about the Belgian Presidency's involvement in the Franco-German deal, the President in office of the Foreign Affairs Council said that Belgium had not been aware that France and Germany had been meeting to discuss the matter. Vanackere said that neither the Belgian Presidency nor the permanent president (Hermann Van Rompuy) had been involved. Commenting that there was nothing unusual about an agreement between two countries to make a joint suggestion, he said that the real decisions would be made at the European Summit on Thursday.
Simplified procedure. The Lisbon Treaty foresees the option of amending the European treaty using a simplified procedure (Article 48). The fast-track procedure would enable the government of any member state, the European Parliament or the European Commission to submit to the European Council draft changes to treaty measures covering EU policies and internal matters, like the economic and monetary policy. The European Council could adopt a decision to change the measures, by unanimous voting following consultation with the EP, the Commission and the European Central Bank for institutional changes to monetary matters. The decision would not come into force until approved by all the member states under their own constitutional rules (referendum or vote by parliament). Any European Council decision of this nature would not be able to increase the powers of the EU.
The EP's economic and monetary affairs committee will be examining the Commission's draft legislation to change European economic governance on Thursday (see EUROPE 10225). Expressing great ire at the last EU plenary at the “casino deal at Deauville” (see EUROPE 10240), the head of the Liberal Group, Guy Verhofstadt, warned on Sunday in a press release: “If the European Council of next Thursday will not seriously sharpen the proposals on economic governance and the strengthening of the Stability and Growth Pact, there will be an impasse for several months. Serious, automatic sanctions as pleaded for by the ECB are necessary.” He added that “tough negotiations during several months with the EP were to be expected if the Council doesn't change tactics”. (M.B. trans fl)