Brussels, 02/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Greens Group at the European Parliament welcomes the creation of a permanent crisis management mechanism for eurozone countries (see EUROPE 10247). It was a “good decision” on the part of the summit to launch a limited amendment procedure for the Lisbon Treaty in order to confer a sound legal base on this permanent mechanism, said Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit of Germany, who head the group. “It should not be left to taxpayers alone to meet the bill for the financial rescue of EU member states in economic difficulties: the banks and other creditors must also be held liable for the risks they have taken”, they said. They nonetheless regretted that European leaders had weakened the European Commission's proposal to impose semi-automatic sanctions on any country that breaches the Stability and Growth Pact. In their view, it is appropriate to give the EP a heightened role when it comes to the democratic control of the new economic governance system. They went on to reject the “fallacious proposal” to suspend a country's voting rights.
Furthermore, the Greens strongly condemn the European Council's decisions on the EU budget as a “spineless sop to dishonest populism”. In order to really reduce the budget, the first thing would be to do away with the “exorbitant” ITER nuclear fusion project, they say, before going on to recommend in-depth reflection on the future of the budget, focusing on the British rebate, reform of the common agricultural policy and the creation of a European own resources system. (M.B./transl.jl)