Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks of an agreement of great significance for stabilisation of the euro. French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaks of the resolve shown by European heads of state and government to “save the euro”. With reference to the crises that have haunted the euro since spring 2010 - Greece, Ireland, Portugal and the fear of contagion to other countries - “we have faced every trial and each time disaster has been avoided”, he said. The satisfaction shown by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who even noted that the conclusions of the summit were along the lines of the joint Franco-German stance that had shaped up last week, was shared at the end of work by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and by the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who even drew up an account of the decisions taken on other themes on the agenda.
However, the trials and tribulations are not over yet. With the promise to set up a new bail-out plan by early July, subject to conditions, only just made, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou set at around €110 billion the second plan needed by Greece to avoid default. Papandreou said discussions were on a similar amount to the first 2010 aid programme, which provided for €110 billion over three years.
The next few days will therefore prove vital as an effort is made to prevent the eurozone from flaring up. Nonetheless, the messages coming out of the summit, which brings to a close the half-year of Hungarian presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, are deemed by the actors at the meeting as positive. And Nicolas Sarkozy has regained the “resolve to save the euro” even among the banks and other private creditors of Greece that will no doubt be taking part in the new rescue plan. The markets are perhaps less convinced than the political leaders appear to be, given that the euro, further to the summit's conclusions on Greece of which stock was taken on the evening of Thursday 23 June, showed itself to be somewhat fragile against the dollar when exchange markets closed on Friday.
Greece was not the only point discussed at the summit, although it was the most sensitive and thorniest. The European Council gave its go-ahead to the governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet of France as president of the European Central Bank (ECB) in November this year. The decision had been expected but, before the choice of Mario Draghi could be endorsed, it had also to be approved by the European Parliament, in order to reassure France it would not be excluded from the ECB executive board. The current Italian representative, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, whose mandate was to run until 2014, told President Van Rompuy and Nicolas Sarkozy that he would be leaving his post before the end of the year.
On paper, the summit was also to take decisions on immigration policy and the updating of Schengen agreements. However, on these points, progress has not allowed negotiations underway to be finalised. Leaders simply called on the Commission to work on new rules with a view to recasting the Schengen Area early this autumn. The exercise should provide for a safeguard mechanism to come into play whenever the area of free movement is endangered. It is a matter of making the Schengen area able to absorb the shock of migratory flows from North Africa in the wake of the Arab spring, and to avoid tension between member states which, during April in particular, arose between Italy and France further to the arrival in Italy of young Tunisians fleeing the poverty of their country and wanting to go to France, via Italy.
The heads of state and government of the 27 European Union countries have also given their endorsement to the end of talks for Croatia's EU membership. Agreements should be finalised by the end of the month, and the signing of the accession treaty is expected by the end of the year, with Croatia becoming the 28th EU member state on 1st July 2013.
On the international scene, the summit tackled the conflict in Libya, the situation in Syria and the way to encourage progress towards democracy and economic development of the southern Mediterranean countries. The European Council reiterated its demand that Colonel Gaddafi leave the seat of power in Libya and again spoke of its support to the rebel movement. It condemned repression in Syria, and the EU reinforced sanctions against the regime in Damascus on Thursday 23 June. Regarding the peace process in the Middle East, European leaders did not advise unilateral action, which could hinder a return to talks between Israelis and Palestinians - which is a way to discourage Palestinians, in September, from calling on UN support for the creation of an independent state. (Gp/transl.jl)