BRUSSELS (MNI) – UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday morning
defended Britain’s opposition to German and French plans to enshrine
new fiscal rules in the EU treaty, which effectively torpedoed the
Eurozone’s ‘Plan A’ for a new ‘fiscal compact’ that the 17 countries
that use the currency and other EU members will now pursue under a
separate legal basis.
Countries backing the plan have effectively “surrendered a lot of
sovereignty” and will now see important budgetary decisions sometimes
being decided more in Brussels that at home, said Cameron.
Such a deal “is not in our national interest” he said, adding that
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Sweden also opposed amending the EU
treaty.
“Every other member of the EU is contractually obliged to join the
euro,” he pointed out. Britain he said, by contrast, had a “cast iron
opt out.”
While the new rules agreed were largely good and should help the
Eurozone, a “third element where more needs to be done is
competitiveness,” Britain’s Prime Minister said.
“I came here wanting either one of two options: either a treaty
within a treaty or allow the other to go off on their own,” Cameron told
journalists at 0630 am Brussels time after all night talks.
“What was on offer was not good enough for Britain,” he said.
After all night talks, the 17 leaders of the euro area and other EU
member states agreed a three point plan to boost their crisis fighting
effort based on tougher fiscal rules, an early start for the EU’s
permanent bailout facility, the European Stability Mechanism, and an
E200 billion boost to IMF resources.
–Brussels bureau: +324-9522-8374; pkoh@marketnews.com
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