European officials said it could be difficult to convert last week's political deal among European Union Member States into a watertight legal pact, signalling fresh concern about the region's latest response to the debt crisis.
In remarks to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, said the fact that the UK had vetoed an EU-wide agreement, forcing Member States to sign a separate intergovernmental accord, would complicate the task of implementing new, stricter fiscal rules. "An intergovernmental treaty was not my first preference, nor that of most of the Member States. It will not be easy, also legally speaking. I count on everybody to be constructive bearing in mind what is at stake", he said.
A potential weakness of an intergovernmental agreement is that it could be easier to unravel legally. It may also not be easy to achieve either, with some EU Member States that don't use the euro already indicating they may seek different terms from eurozone members. "We must continue to evaluate what it is that has been agreed. It is clear that Sweden will not enter this cooperation on the same terms as eurozone members", said Swedish Finance Minister, Anders Borg.
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