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Latest update: 13/12/2011
- euro - European Commission - José Manuel Barroso
UK made EU compromise impossible, says Barroso
British Prime Minister David Cameron's demand for special treatment for banks was a risk to the integrity of the internal market and made compromise impossible, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.
By News Wires (text)
AFP - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday that a demand by Britain for its financial services industry to be exempted from EU regulation threatened to break up the single market.
Barroso was speaking during a debate in the European Parliament on a European Union summit which agreed a new deal for fiscal and economic integration agreed by 26 of the 27 EU states - but which British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to accept.
"All in all the agreement in substance was quite impressive, but frankly we cannot say the same for form," Barroso told lawmakers.
Citing proposals jointly tabled with EU president Herman Van Rompuy and senior eurozone official Jean-Claude Juncker, Barroso said the aim of the summit was to find a way for all 27 EU states - eurozone or not - to change the bloc's treaty to fight the debt crisis together.
However, "the UK in exchange for giving its agreement asked for a specific protocol on financial services which as presented posed a risk to the integrity of the single market," he said.
Barroso did not go into the detail of which exemptions Cameron specifically sought, although a future tax on financial transactions was one development Britain is known to strongly resist.
Barroso said he tried to broker a compromise with an amendment to the leaders statement that would guarantee that "any measures adopted by the council (of EU leaders) and applied to the euro area only must not undermine the single market including financial services.
"Unfortunately this compromise proved impossible, so it was not possible to have a solution involving all 27," he said.
Cameron defended his decision in parliament in London on Monday to invoke a veto against a full 27-nation treaty, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the reality now was that Europe had become a two-speed union.
Britain is probing whether the eurozone is breaching treaty obligations by using EU-wide institutions and buildings, to which non-euro Britain is a major financial contributor.
As leaders across the European Parliament's different political groups hit out at "selfish" Cameron, Van Rompuy told the same debate he remained "fundamentally optimistic" about the prospects of the EU putting the crisis behind it.
He said 2011 might yet prove to be the EU's "annus mirabilis," or the miracle comeback after its nadir.
Van Rompuy also suggested Britain could yet return to the fold, adding: "At some point there will be 27 around the table and we will be able to hammer out something."
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Comments (8)
All of this rhetoric and
All of this rhetoric and posturing is not going to help fix the problem.
The EU appears to be operating in a way that does not reflect the will and wishes of the combined electorate. The EU needs to address this issue to prevent the build up of tensions.
E.U.
Cameron barked,and the Europeans Leaders went scorring back to thier kennels,wimpering with thier tails between thier legs.
E.U.
Cameron barked,and the Europeans Leaders went scorring back to thier kennels,wimpering with thier tails between thier legs.
Bashing Brits as bad Europeans and Isolationist
Please can all of those people stirring the anti-British rethoric please remember the uk is the second biggest contributor to eu funding, the number one eu export destination for eu goods and has the best record for adopting eu directives and changes (eu words not mine). Please have the sense to see through the rhetoric of bloated undemocratic organisations. We are good Europeans but not very good at being told what to do by bureaucrats that we do not believe represent true europeans.
it takes two to tango
Mr Barroso as in agreement"it takes 2 to tango" and of course this agreement consisted of 3 main players.one of those players had a "Foxes Eye" for the future
UK Makes Compromise Impossible
The Euro summit was to find a way to support the Euro but appears to have been used by France and Germany to attack the City of London. Both Germany and France have, for years, tried to force business out of London to Frankfort and Paris. The reason why they couldn't do it before is that the traders in Europe are just plain lazy and want everything given to them (aristocrats to the last man and woman). If you go to the City of London traders are at their desks between 6 and 8am and leave when the markets have closed; well after 6pm up to 8 or 9 if they are waiting for New York to wake up. Contrast that with the behavior of workers in Frankfort,Paris or Milan who won't start work until 9am have at least a one hour lunch if not longer and leave at 5pm. So now Merkel and Sarkozy are resorting to taxing the City under the guise of 'Financial Regulation' related to saving the Euro and Barroso and Sarkozy blame the City for the Euro's woes. If that is the level of their argument, although eloquent, they are economic illiterates by proposing such an argument and the British know this. We know the Euro's problems are to do with the vast amount of money borrowed - this is called debt - and nothing to do with the City of London. They should both resign and admit ignorance of the modern, global, economic system.
UK /EU
Since becoming a member of the EU, Britain has persistently been bloody awkward.
I am surprised, but would not be unduly shocked, if the EU told the present UK administration to sling it's hook.
Maybe this coalition we are encumbered with would collapse if the Lib-Dems had any guts, but they are now well into having a smidgin of power, sitting close to Cameron and his bunch of City orientated pals.
Even if the coalition imploded, what have we got to replace it, nothing that would enthuse our present 26 partner states, of that I am certain.
Baroso's comments
Having read most of the comments on the subject I get the impression that for all the blasting of the UK's position the recent summit didn't actually achieve anything concrete. The short term for the Eurozone hardly gets a mention and the long term is based on every country in the EU agreeing to Brussels giving their respective budgets a tick in the box or not, taking the decision on how the various countries spend their own money away from that country. For all the huff and puff from Merkozy I cannot see any politician allowing that to happen when it comes to crunch time. The use of the excuse along the lines of 'don't blame us, it's Brussels fault that we can't increase the spend on such and such' will not go down well with the population, the people on the streets and more importantly voters of a country. Let's face it, no politician will upset the voters if he/she thinks they will lose an election! It mustn't be forgotten that President Sarkozy faces and election very shortly and he may end up not being the president of France. His successor may not be in favour of allowing some bureaucrat decide France's budget. The people who are going to make the new 'plan' work are not the politicians but all the people who vote in the first place. From all the evidence I have seen and heard there are an awful lot of ordinary people who do not think the Merkozy plan will work in practice. Time will only tell, but in the meantime the Euro is in very trouble waters.
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