Brussels, 28/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso said after the tripartite Social Summit on Thursday 28 October (see related article) that removing the voting rights of a member state which infringes Stability and Growth Pact rules was both “unacceptable” and “unrealistic”. “If treaty change is to reduce the rights of member states on voting, I find it unacceptable. Frankly speaking, it is unrealistic. It is incompatible with limited treaty change and it will never be accepted unanimously by member states,” he said.
Preferring to focus on “substance rather than process”, he felt that questions had to be asked about what kind of permanent mechanism that would come into play when a eurozone country was unable to refinance its sovereign debt on the markets. Only then should it be decided if changes were needed to the Lisbon Treaty. Consensus on putting in place a permanent crisis management mechanism specifically for the euro area would seem to be emerging to replace the provisional instruments which will continue until 2013. Germany, backed by France, is pushing for amendment of the Lisbon Treaty, so that this permanent mechanism has a solid legal base.
Asked for his reaction to the hostile comments made by Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding on the Franco-German agreement, Barroso said it was “regrettable” that controversy and division among member states should eclipse the progress already made on strengthening economic governance on the basis of the legislative package brought forward by the Commission and the recommendations of the task force chaired by permanent European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. He spoke about setting up a European semester, which would have each member state set out for its peers at the start of each year the broad thrust of its budget for the coming year before it was passed by the national parliament. (M.B./transl.rt)