Brussels, 18/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Summit opened on Thursday 18 October amid disagreement between Germany and France about the most important future measures for ensuring eurozone stability. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, defended the idea of giving the Euro Commissioner the right to veto national budget policies, saying she thought one step to be taken could give giving Europe a genuine right to intervene in national budgets, echoing the ideas mooted by Germany's finance minister in his call for tighter budget discipline in the eurozone (see EUROPE 10711).
France, however, says that the powers of the Euro Commissioner are a longer-term issue and the main subject of this summit was banking union rather than budget union, in the words of the French president, Francois Hollande, upon arrival at the European Socialist Party's summit (PES) (see separate article). He added that the only decision to be taken, or rather to be confirmed, was the setting up of banking union by the end of the year, particularly the first step of it, namely bank supervision. Merkel and Hollande held a private meeting on Thursday afternoon, and may have ironed out their differences in approach.
Spain. Although not officially on the agenda, Spain was in everyone's minds. Media reports suggest that the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, does not want to request aid from the eurozone's new bailout fund which, together with intervention from the ECB, would bring down the country's borrowing costs. Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said after the Tripartite Social Summit (see separate article) that it was a decision for Spain to make. If Spain does request aid, then the Commission is ready to act. Barroso said a full solution for eurozone stability was needed and it was necessary to stick to the June 2012 bank supervision and bailout decisions. (MB/transl.fl)