Meise, 16/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 16 December in Meise (Belgium), the heads of state and government of the EPP family confirmed their agreement that there was a need for a simplified change in the Lisbon Treaty with a view to allowing the creation of a permanent stability mechanism within the eurozone. There is “far-reaching consensus” on the issue, the deputy prime minister and finance minister of Finland, Jyrki Katainen, who is also the vice-president of the EPP, said during the EPP summit. The tricky question of eurobonds, which sparked the difference between German Chancellor Angel Merkel and the leader of the Eurogroup, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, was clarified. “No-one is against” but the “decision now is not appropriate” and “could block adoption of the permanent stability mechanism”, the EPP general secretary, Antonio Lopez Isturiz, told the press. Eurobonds are a longer term solution and it is first of all necessary for the leaders to finalise the proposals on the table once and for all, he said on the sidelines of the EPP summit. In an interview in the Thursday morning edition of the daily, Bild, Angela Merkel had affirmed she had had a long telephone conversation with her Luxembourg counterpart which “cleared up the issue” of eurobonds. Regarding proposals on the table, Irish opposition leader Enda Kenny, who attended the summit, said that, in the event of “a very specific and very limited” modification to the Treaty, it is “more than likely” that the situation in Ireland will not require a referendum. The EP has for now discarded the measure for a possible increase in the Solidarity Fund. “It is not necessary to put more money on the table” than the €750 billion at present as “more money is not a solution”, Katainen said. (A.By./transl.jl)