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EU Summit Fails To Get 27 Nation Support

By:
Barry Norman
Updated: Jan 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC

European Union summit has failed to secure the full backing of the 27 nations for treaty changes to help fight the region’s debt crisis by coordinating

EU Summit Fails To Get 27 Nation Support

European Union summit has failed to secure the full backing of the 27 nations for treaty changes to help fight the region’s debt crisis by coordinating fiscal policy, according to reports. Citing unnamed diplomats and senior European officials the reports said that the summit talks would now concentrate on forging an agreement between the 17 euro-zone members and any other countries that wanted to join.

No one knows where these meeting will lead. This will leave the markets in turmoil on Friday morning.

A full agreement fell through after the U.K. asked for concessions that France and Germany weren’t willing to give, according to a Reuters report.

Ministers and Leaders started what are being viewed as make-or-break talks for the eurozone at dinner Thursday, and the talks went on into the early hours of Friday morning.

Prior to the summit on Thursday, UK Prime Minister Cameron, President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Merkel held 45-minute talks, but sources said there was “no movement” with each side setting out their respective ground. David Cameron has repeatedly warned he will veto anything which harms British interests.

By late Thursday night, a set of draft conclusions began circulating in Brussels and were leaked to several news agencies.

The draft text sets a limit on structural deficits of 0.5% of GDP, compared with the present limit of 3% including debt repayments.

It also includes a way of increasing the firepower of the eurozone bailout fund above 500bn euros (£426bn; $670bn) – a measure which Germany has staunchly opposed.

The Prime Points:

  1. The European Commission to have the power to impose penalties for nations that run excessive budget deficits
  2. All 17 eurozone nations should amend their national legislation to require balanced budgets
  3. The eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes
  4. Any future bailouts would not require private investors to absorb part of the costs, as happened in the case of Greece

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