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EU leaders face showdown over treaty change
[Arab News] European Union heavyweights Germany and France launched their bid on Thursday to convince the rest of the EU that the bloc's main treaty must be changed to help avert new financial crises.The Franco-German plan, which proposes changing the Lisbon treaty to create a permanent system for handling meltdowns like the Greek debt collapse, faces strong opposition from many EU member states at a two-day summit in Brussels. The summit is expected to sign off on a new set of EU budget rules, including tougher sanctions on member states that fail to keep their deficits and debt levels in check. But the meeting is likely to focus on treaty change, which many countries are reluctant to support because of concern about the political fallout from amending a charter that took eight years to negotiate and became law only 10 months ago. In a sign that momentum toward change may be growing, Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi issued a statement before the summit backing the move -- which Finland had suggested earlier this week it opposed. "The euro area needs a credible permanent crisis mechanism to ensure the financial stability of the euro area as a whole," she said. "If this new system requires treaty change, then treaty change should be done." Speaking in Berlin before the summit, France's European affairs minister, Pierre Lellouche, said countries were warming to the Franco-German position, which he called a gift to Europe. Posted by: Fred 2010-10-29 |
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