Brussels, 13/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The British prime minister, David Cameron, got a beating in Strasbourg on Tuesday 13 December from MEPs accusing him of a nationalistic, selfish veto of EU treaty changes at the recent European summit because the treaty reforms were to introduce a new budget agreement and greater coordination of economic policies and bailout funds to solve the euro crisis.
Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, told MEPs that the European leaders' decisions on the financial crisis and budget deficits would one day enable people to look back on the year 2011 as an annus mirabilis. He said he was an optimist, and when the crisis is over, people will see everything that has been achieved in 2010 and 2011 and what now seems like an annus horribilis will be seen as an annus mirabilis. People will talk about these tough years as helping lay the basis for ensuring that the crisis is never repeated and for a sea-change in the EU.
Deciding to go it alone and veto the changes to the EU Treaty to deal with the euro crisis at the European Council on Thursday 8 December, the United Kingdom had forced all the other member states to make do with an intergovernmental agreement, which Herman Van Rompuy said would be finalised in March 2012. He said there was a full battery of legal tools to use to meet the targets, but there had not been agreement. He said he would not be generating controversy and hoped that one day the full EU27 would agree to a genuine change to the Treaty to incorporate the intergovernmental budget treaty. He said that one day, all 27 would again agree on what could not be agreed upon a few days earlier. Van Rompuy said the intergovernmental treaty had to respect existing treaties, single market rules and non-discrimination and, where possible, the European Court of Justice should be added, as is allowed by Article 273. Van Rompuy said the EP would be involved in the process of drawing up the intergovernmental treaty.
Herman Van Rompuy said coherence was needed because it doesn't make sense to say that the financial markets are partly responsible for the crisis and then to say we'll wait and see how the money markets react to see how successful the European summit has been! He said there were no ideal solutions because lost confidence is only restored one step at a time. The crisis is too deep to see a sudden change, added Van Rompuy, pointing out that some member states have not yet introduced the recommended measures and that that generates mistrust. Leaving it too long before taking action, as some member states are doing, creates a crisis of confidence that cannot be solved at EU level. Member states bear an enormous responsibility, said Van Rompuy.
Answering MEPs who said the EU was not showing enough solidarity, Van Rompuy said that if you add up all the billions of euro being spent, then there was plenty of solidarity, and some parties even feel there is far too much. The European Central Bank (ECB), he pointed out, is not there to provide solidarity, but to shore up stability by keeping inflation down in the eurozone.
After welcoming some of the European summit's decisions (early introduction of the European stability mechanism (ESM), end of private sector involvement in the bailout fund, qualified majority voting at the ESM and a further €200 billion for the International Monetary Fund) José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, said: “We now need to go further. The spring European Council in March will discuss how to further deepen fiscal integration of the euro area. Stability bonds can give an important contribution in the future to completing a fiscal stability union and creating a stronger liquid bonds market in Europe. We also need to go further on growth, on investment, on measures to promote jobs. Fiscal discipline is of course key; but let me be frank on this - we cannot build our economic union just on discipline and on sanctions: we also need a Europe of growth and of jobs. A Europe of responsibility certainly, but also a Europe of solidarity.”
Barroso explained that “the agreement on substance at this summit is quite impressive. But frankly, we cannot say the same for the form”. The Commission had even suggested a compromise to get the United Kingdom to agree to an EU27 treaty change, but to no avail. The UK had demanded in return a special agreement on financial services, which would have been “a risk to the integrity of the internal market”, said Barroso. Hence the other 26 countries were forced to make the deal an international agreement rather than a treaty. The president of the Commission said: “The agreement will not replace Union institutions and procedures, but on the contrary build on them.” All the same: “The Commission will do all it can so that this agreement is legally safe and institutionally acceptable. The Commission will contribute to these negotiations as guardian of the EU Treaties and of our institutional model.” Barroso warned: “Let me be clear: the Commission will not accept any intergovernmental treaty that would be in conflict with European Union law.”
“By adopting strict rules for the return to a balanced budget and the reduction of public debt, 26 member states out of 27 have proven their willingness to return to sound financial policy and have shown their spirit of responsibility,' said the chair of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul, adding: “By deciding on their major economic policy decisions together, by developing emergency mechanisms to be implemented by the ECB, 26 member states out of 27 have understood that shared sovereignty is better than sovereignty taken hostage by the markets. Still, three questions remain unanswered: what will the nature of the new provisions be? What is the UK's place in Europe and the stance of the other 26 member states towards it? And finally, there is the essential component of 'growth' in our economic policy.”
“Because the United Kingdom refused to be associated with the decision of its counterparts, the draft treaty will not be, as we had wished, a Community project, but an intergovernmental one. This situation presents us with a number of not only legal, but political problems. In the discussions leading to the drafting of new provisions between now and March, my Group wants everything to be done to involve the European institutions in the negotiations, and in particular for the Parliament to play its rightful role to ensure the democratic legitimacy of the process” said Daul.
Joseph Daul explained that “the isolation of the British shows that their coalition government sees the European Union as a mere free-trade area, without any consideration for solidarity and responsibility towards its partners. In this context, I believe that the British rebate should be put into question. Our taxpayers' money should be used for things other than rewarding selfish and nationalistic attitudes. Europe will not exit the crisis in a way which is sustainable without the double, radical action of sound management on one hand and growth on the other.”
The leader of the European Socialists, Martin Schultz, said that people were saying that the European summit would bring stability to the markets, but this was wrong, and the markets' reaction showed that there is no stability. The summit said nothing about the role of the ECB and said nothing about a pact for growth and jobs. He explained that his Group did not like all this talk about changing the Treaty because it knew that by entering this debate, there would be attempts at intimidation. The British prime minister had haggled for an opt-out on the working time directive, not the new regulations on the financial markets, said Schulz, pointing out: “The other 26 could not allow themselves to be blackmailed by unreasonable British demands such as opt-outs from the working time directive and the refusal of stricter financial regulation, the lack of which was one of the main reasons for the financial crisis in the first place, as shown in the fall of RBS.” Schulz said the EP should be seen as a genuine partner in the process of approving the intergovernmental treaty because otherwise, he could not recommend that the EP do anything at all if it is not involved as true partners. Schulz called for the restoration of EU citizens' confidence in the EU. By March 2012, he said the EP had to be involved in the working group on how to ensure the financial stability of the European Union, which means dealing first and foremost with economic growth and jobs in Europe. A market democracy does not exist, he said, because the market needs to respect the rules of democracy.
Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium) said that the crisis had lasted for over 700 days now, and people should have the honesty to admit that nothing had been brought under control and the end of the crisis is not around the corner. He said the European summit's deal was not enough to restore confidence in the euro. Verhofstadt regretted that the European heads of state had not agreed to include solidarity because discipline without solidarity is not really what the EU is about. Verhofstadt said that the full extent of the crisis had to be addressed, but the European Council was not the place to do that. Instead, the EP would have to deal with the crisis by deciding an overarching approach with the European Commission to submit to the European Council. Commenting on the United Kingdom's veto, Verhofstadt said that over the next few days, David Cameron would see that he'd made the biggest error of his life because if he genuinely did want extra protection for the City of London, then he would at least have to sit down at the negotiating table with everyone else. The leader of the ALDE Group said that if one is invited to a table, you either go as a guest or get eaten.
Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA, Germany) said she was delighted to see David Cameron under criticism because the British strategy of protecting the City of London was the root of all evil. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, says it is countries' debts that have caused the crisis, and the only solution is austerity. I can't stand it, said Harms, because the situation we find ourselves in is the outcome of this austerity mentality that the Germans are forcing on the rest of Europe. Rebecca Harms said that she had wanted the European summit to give a signal of genuine solidarity in Europe, but nothing was said about a lender of last resort or anti-recession measures. She also regretted the decisions on ending private sector involvement in bailout out of the financial system. Pascal Canfin (Greens/EFA, France) said that for two years, it was the Council of Ministers alone that had been dealing with the crisis and it has been failing to do so for two years. The recent summit was called the last chance, he pointed out, but every three months a new summit is held, a new last chance summit, which fails to solve the crisis, and the next last chance summit would be held in three months' time because last week's summit solved nothing.
Cameron tried to defend his country's interests, although some are treating him like a scapegoat, said Czech MEP Jan Zahradil, head of the ECR Group at the EP (which includes British Conservative party MEPs). Zahradil said the summit had not been a success because Europe was as divided as ever and within the eurozone, there were two blocs - the ones that pay out and the ones that get paid. The Eurosceptic leader said it was mainly the rich countries (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Finland) that would pay for the others. Zahradil said he felt really sorry for taxpayers in those countries.
“That the EU summit did not succeed in bringing about a breakthrough to solve the global financial crisis is beyond doubt. The causes of the financial crisis are manifold but the lack of control or monitoring of financial markets was its main motor. As a first step, the international transaction tax must now be implemented quickly. Next, the most dangerous new financial products must be simply prohibited”, said the chair of the GUE/NGL Group, Lothar Bisky.
Nigel Farage, leader of the British eurosceptics (who want the UK to leave the EU), is delighted that the UK clashed with the rest of the EU at the summit, saying that this would help the UK leave the EU and regain influence in the world, pointing out that there was now a momentum to have a referendum on leaving the EU and regaining freedom. He ended his speech by storming out of the building.
Many MEPs, like Mario Mauro (EPP, Italy), slammed Merkozy's heavy-handed approach. (LC/transl.fl)