Closer financial union may rankle EU states
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOUR top European Union officials yesterday set out a blueprint for a closer financial union in a move that will clash with some member states' cherished national interests.
EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy unveiled a report that called for the EU's 27 member countries to pool their financial and monetary policies even more than they had done so far to combat the region's financial crisis.
He made the proposal alongside the leaders of the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup, the gathering of the finance ministers from the 17 EU countries that use the euro.
The report said there was "a need to go further and to put in place a stronger framework for coordination, convergence and enforcement" of policies.
The report will be used as a starting point for debate at next week's summit of EU government leaders as they seek a way out of the financial crisis by further increasing control over banks and the national budgets of member states.
But the ambitious scope of the integration it proposed is likely to rankle defenders of EU nations' sovereign powers who fear a transfer of more authority to Brussels.
The report charts the development that Europe's financial and economic backstops should take over the coming years.
It said Europe should have after 2014 a centralized authority that can absorb economic shocks in countries.
The report, which was vague on details, suggested the system would evolve out of Europe's current financial backstops, which include a bailout fund, a nascent banking supervisor and budget checks.
For three years now, the EU has been slumping from one crisis meeting to the next to deal with the problems of debt-ridden countries like Greece.
EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy unveiled a report that called for the EU's 27 member countries to pool their financial and monetary policies even more than they had done so far to combat the region's financial crisis.
He made the proposal alongside the leaders of the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup, the gathering of the finance ministers from the 17 EU countries that use the euro.
The report said there was "a need to go further and to put in place a stronger framework for coordination, convergence and enforcement" of policies.
The report will be used as a starting point for debate at next week's summit of EU government leaders as they seek a way out of the financial crisis by further increasing control over banks and the national budgets of member states.
But the ambitious scope of the integration it proposed is likely to rankle defenders of EU nations' sovereign powers who fear a transfer of more authority to Brussels.
The report charts the development that Europe's financial and economic backstops should take over the coming years.
It said Europe should have after 2014 a centralized authority that can absorb economic shocks in countries.
The report, which was vague on details, suggested the system would evolve out of Europe's current financial backstops, which include a bailout fund, a nascent banking supervisor and budget checks.
For three years now, the EU has been slumping from one crisis meeting to the next to deal with the problems of debt-ridden countries like Greece.
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