Brussels, 03/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 3 July, many MEPs roundly criticised the attitude of the Netherlands, which has expressed doubt about the unanimous decision at the eurozone summit to support countries that are doing a lot to adjust their economies but are still finding it difficult to roll over their debt. Mario Mauro (EPP, Italy) said every country describes differently what was agreed and called on Van Rompuy to make it clear exactly what the leaders had agreed upon (Van Rompuy had come to the EP to give a briefing on the results of the summit - see EUROPE 10645). He asked whether Finland was obliged to stand by what had been agreed, and said that Van Rompuy's answer would determine the fate of Italy. French Liberal Sylvie Goulard echoed these feelings, telling leaders to agree on what they had agreed upon and put an end to the indecent cacophony of different interpretations because what is at stake is the fate of southern Europe. What were the Dutch and Finnish prime ministers up to at the summit, asked Hannes Swoboda of Austria, head of the S&D. Had they fallen asleep and missed it all, he wondered, because they don't seem to have understood. The head of the Liberal group, Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, said that if Finland were to go on in this way, the window of opportunity that had opened during the European summit would only stay open for a few hours.
The Finnish government and, to a lesser extent the Dutch government, does not want the eurozone bailout funds, the EFSF and ESM, to buy up the bonds of eurozone countries that are meeting their budget and macroeconomic commitments but are finding it difficult to roll over their public debt (see EUROPE 10646), but the eurozone summit said that this option was open for Italy and Spain, two eurozone countries seen as too big to fail. This option is already included in the bailout funds' terms and conditions and would be accompanied by special conditions set out in a memorandum of understanding signed by the requesting country and its institutional lenders.
The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, made it clear after the European that all decisions had been taken unanimously and no other type of decision was possible. He said each country must assume its responsibilities and put the decisions into practice and the decisions cannot be vetoed by individual countries. (MB/transl.fl)