Brussels, 03/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 9 January, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a working lunch to prepare for the upcoming European summit in Brussels on 30 January (see EUROPE 10521). The leaders of the eurozone's two biggest economies will discuss progress in the talks on a new intergovernmental budget treaty among 26 of the 27 EU member states (the United Kingdom refuses to take part) to strengthen budget discipline in Europe, as required by the December 2011 European summit (see EUROPE 10513). It is planned to include a “golden budget rule” in countries' constitutions to make it illegal to run up excessive levels of debt and a mechanism will be introduced to penalise countries that constantly break the budget rules.
The European Commission has submitted a written contribution to the working group drawing up the new treaty. In the document, the Commission sets out areas requiring work to ensure the new treaty is compatible with existing EU treaties, explained a spokesperson on Tuesday 3 January.
Italy. The Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, will be in Paris on Friday 6 January to meet Sarkozy to discuss the debt crisis in Europe. In a letter to the international treaty working group at the end of December, the Italian government said that the new treaty should not go further than set out in the revised Stability and Growth Pact (SGP)when it comes to reducing excess deficits. The SGP lays down a target of cutting excess deficit by one twentieth of GDP each year and allows a degree of flexibility in terms of how the economy is doing. Italy recommends a strengthening of the growth and competitiveness measures and says that the European Financial Stability Fund, the bailout mechanism that has already provided aid for Ireland and Portugal and will soon be backing Greece, should be given greater funding. Later in the month, Monti will meet with the British prime minister, David Cameron. (MB/transl.fl)