Federalists to petition Parliament on fiscal union
January 23, 2012 3:13 PM
Originally published by Andrew Duff MEP
Originally published by Andrew Duff MEP
At meetings in Barcelona on Friday and Saturday (20-21 January), the European federalists took a stance on the emerging intergovernmental treaty on fiscal discipline.
The UEF took note of the circumstances which led up to the drafting of a new treaty outside the framework of the European Union, but welcomed the fact that the British bluff had been called and their veto by-passed.
Several problematical issues in the 4th draft of the treaty were noted, including the problem of discordance with the official EU structure and treaty-based criteria.
In the view of UEF, the new treaty does not address the critical problem of sovereign debt and is therefore only one further step towards what must be done to salvage the euro and to begin economic recovery.
Andrew Duff MEP, President of the UEF, said:
"For all its complications, the new treaty does contain some features which federalists can welcome warmly. These are that it goes further than the Six Pack in terms of budgetary discipline; it commits to the greater use of enhanced cooperation among the eurozone; it will enter into force before all signatory states have ratified it; and it is to be incorporated into the EU treaty within five years.
"What Europe now needs, however, is a draft treaty on fiscal union run by a federal economic government. For this reason the UEF has decided to petition the European Parliament to use its new constitutional powers to initiate this next decisive step."
END
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