MEPs on Wednesday criticised the "summitry" with which EU leaders are attempting to build economic and monetary union, saying that it was leading nowhere and was far removed from the spirit and ambition which won the EU the Nobel Peace Prize. (Includes comment from Sharon Bowles.)
The comments came in a debate with Commission President Barroso and Cyprus' Europe Affairs Minister Mavroyiannis ahead of the European Council which starts tomorrow.
Group leaders from the EPP, S&D, Liberals, Greens and the United Left denounced the intergovernmental system, which they said had failed and was unable to turn grand rhetoric into action. They were especially sceptical about the coming summit, saying that the expectations of a good result were particularly low. The ECR and EFD leaders said that what was needed was less Europe, not more.
The main topics discussed were the roadmap for economic and monetary union, banking supervision, the pooling of sovereign debt, progress on the economic governance two pack, and the EU budget.
Press release
Sharon Bowles (UK, Lib Dem), chairwoman of Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, underlined the cost of delay:
"Delay may be politically convenient but it has a high cost - not just in financial terms, but in the human cost and the blight of uncertainty that lies over the plans of individuals and businesses across Europe."
"Every twist and delay makes any bailout, restructuring, write off, buyback even the redemption fund more expensive. If we had faced up to reduction of Greek bond debt sooner, it would have cost less without putting profit in the pockets of hedge funds."
"It is still possible that a decision will be taken on a Single Supervisory Mechanism - a key step in creating a banking union - but did we not already approve that in June and again in October?"
Press release © ALDE
© European Parliament
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article