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Quest to save euro at any cost raises spectre of EU breakup

08 December 2011, 22:27 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - In the desperate scramble to save the euro, a possible decision by the 17-nation eurozone to go it alone under a new deal is raising the spectre of a two-speed Europe or worse, an EU break-up.

Leaders of France and Germany see treaty change aimed at drastically tightening budgetary discipline as the way forward to restore confidence in the euro and put paid to Europe's two-year debt crisis.

Arriving for what President Nicolas Sarkozy dubbed a last chance summit Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that for the euro to regain credibility European Union treaties must be changed "in such a way that we head towards a stability union."

But treaty change requires unanimous approval from the bloc's 27 nations, and failing an agreement, the "Merkozy" couple, as they are known, are ready to suggest that any or all of the countries sharing the single currency sign on to a single new pact comprising tougher fiscal rules.

The proposal is angering many EU members, who fear the union faces breaking up into "in" and "out" nations in a two- or even three-tier bloc.

At the summit due to wind up Friday, EU president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso are urging all 27 to agree to amend the EU rulebook to enforce tighter rules and better policing on debts and deficits for the eurozone.

"It is very important that we keep the 27 together," Denmark's new premier Helle Thorning-Schmidt said.

"This is what has worked in other times of crisis for Europe and that is what we are hoping will work now as well."

But Britain is wielding the threat of a veto on a unanimous accord by the 27, with Prime Minister David Cameron warning London will scupper the French-German proposal should his demands be ignored.

"If I can't get what I want, I will have no hesitation in vetoing a treaty at 27 because I am not going to go to Brussels and not stand up for our country," he said Thursday.

In a statement issued in The Times this week he also said that if the 17 countries of the eurozone alternatively chose to create a separate treaty of their own, Britain also would make sure its interests were protected.

Institutions such as the European Commission and the European Court of Justice involved in such a treaty "belong to all EU states and their use outside the treaty of the 27 would clearly require safeguards," he stressed.

Whatever the outcome, friction between the "ins" and the "outs" has risen as the debt deteriorates.

Eastern power Poland, which currently holds the rotating EU chairmanship, has given a cool reception to the idea of closer integration of the 17 eurozone members unless the "outs" are associated in some manner.

"The crisis will seal our coffin if we choose to alienate the Europe of 27," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a meeting of right-wing European parties ahead of the key summit.

"It's not enough to repeat constantly that the European community must stay united. This must be followed by decisions that exclude no one and do not create a two-speed Europe," Tusk said.

"Any alternative to the Europe of 27 will be fatal for Europe," he said.


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