Brussels, 07/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The presidents of three pro-European organisations sent a petition to the European Parliament on Tuesday 7 February, calling on it to use the power conferred upon it by the Lisbon Treaty to initiate revision of the treaties with a view to creating a full fiscal union with a reformed financial system. The petition is presented by the presidents of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) and the European Movement International (EMI).
The authors of the petition note that the new intergovernmental treaty on the budget pact (fiscal compact) does not tackle the problem of sovereign debt. They call on the EP to use the powers conferred upon it by Article 48(2) of the treaty to initiate the formation of fiscal union whereby the national debt would be issued in the form of eurobonds backed by mutual guarantees provided by the eurozone countries.
Andrew Duff, UEF President and MEP, said the intergovernmental treaty signed in March by 25 EU member states is a “necessary expedient to bypass the British veto but it does not install the fiscal solidarity needed to save the euro in the long run. Nor does it help resolve problems surrounding the Union's political legitimacy”. Pauline Gessant, the president of JEF-Europe, regrets the return to the outmoded method of negotiating “behind closed doors” and the intergovernmental supremacy of the European Council. “The European unification process must involve citizens and their representatives and be discussed in a transparent and democratic way”, she said. Jo Leinen, EMI President and MEP, put in: “The method for changing and improving the European treaties must be a new convention and not a series of EU summits”. (LC/transl.jl)