A group of senior European politicians has appealed to EU leaders to take radical steps to tackle the crisis of confidence in the euro.
The Spinelli group, which includes former prime ministers of Belgium, Italy and Greece, called on EU leaders today to take urgent action to address the euro crisis, including launching common eurozone bonds and expanding the role of the European Central Bank.
The call came as EU leaders were about to meet in Brussels to discuss changes to the EU's treaties to restore stability for the euro over the medium-term. Germany and France are pushing strongly for treaty changes, arguing that this is the only way to convince financial markets that eurozone governments are serious about tackling excessive debts and deficits.
Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament and a former prime minister of Belgium said plans for limited treaty change would do little to solve financial aspects of the crisis.
Verhofstadt said that treaty change “was not the way forward” to ease concerns of financial markets. “We need decisive action to stop the euro crisis,” he said,
He said EU leaders should instead focus their attention on implementing five priority measures to stabilise the euro, leaving treaty change for a later date. Verhofstadt called for full implementation of reinforced economic governance rules, the creation of a European Monetary Fund, project bonds and Eurobonds, and allowing the European Central Bank to take a more active role in fighting the crisis.
Treaty change should be carried out later with the full involvement of national parliaments and the European Parliament, Verhofstadt said.
Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, outlined a number of options for boosting economic discipline in the eurozone in a paper sent to EU leaders on 7 December.
The options include changing a protocol attached to the treaty to tighten rules on reducing debt levels and public deficits. This method would not require ratification by national parliaments and so could be done quickly.
Verhofstadt said that changing a protocol would be a blow to the democratic process within the EU as it would exclude a role for MEPs and national parliaments. He said that treaty change should be agreed by a convention bringing together national MPs, MEPs and national governments.
Verhofstadt said the long-term solution to the crisis was political. A convention should aim “to create a federal union”, he said.
Verhofstadt was speaking after the meeting of the Spinelli group, an association of former ministers and current MEPs calling for greater European unity and a less inter-governmentalist approach to tackling the EU's problems. The group includes Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister of Italy, Costas Simitis, a former prime minister of Greece, and Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister of Germany. Dany Cohn-Bendit, the joint leader of the Green MEPs, is also a member of the group.
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