BELGIUM: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy say the EU fiscal compact is not up for renegotation

Record ID: 860756

  • Title: BELGIUM: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy say the EU fiscal compact is not up for renegotation
  • Date: 10th May 2012
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EURO SIGN AND FLAGS OF MEMBER COUNTRIES AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA55VF5XZ43DZ24XI80BMQEW5JA
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Wednesday (May 9) there would be no renegotiation of Europe's fiscal compact.
    Barroso said Greece must respect its agreements with the EU.
    "There is an agreement between Greece and the Euro area, all the Euro area Member States and the European institutions. Greece has to respect it's agreement as the other countries have to respect this agreement. The question of credibility is not only for Greece but for the Euro area as a whole. This is very important to understand that if this agreement is not respected, it will be very negative for Greece," he said.
    Van Rompuy said while recovering from the crisis would be difficult, all countries would have to respect their budgetary commitments.
    "We have to make it clear to everybody that we will not go back on the Euro. It will take time to overcome this crisis. It will take time to regain confidence after such shocks like the banking crisis and the sovereign debt crisis. It will be a difficult task. We have to stick to our commitments of reducing our debt and budget deficit, and we will manage to do so," he said.
    Van Rompuy was due to meet France's new president-elect Francois Hollande later on Wednesday, before Hollande heads to Berlin to discuss adding growth elements to the fiscal compact.
    Hollande, who won Sunday's presidential election as voters punished Sarkozy for economic gloom, wants to launch an immediate challenge to German-imposed austerity policies in Europe after he is sworn in on May 15.
    He is calling for negotiations to add pro-growth instruments such as project bonds to the budget responsibility treaty agreed by European Union leaders in February.
    Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers and also prime minister of Luxembourg, said on Monday he had made it clear to Hollande in a telephone call that he could not renegotiate the fiscal pact.
    Van Rompuy was also due to meet with outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, officials at the presidential palace said.
    Greece moved closer to a second snap election on Wednesday when the head of the biggest party launched a new attack on radical leftist Alexis Tsipras, saying his plans for a new government would push the country out of the euro zone.
    New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said in a televised statement that he hoped Tsipras would "come to his senses" before they met for coalition talks later on Wednesday.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register