Member states start work on inter-governmental treaty

MEPs, Commission seek limited lifespan for treaty; while Van Rompuy wants draft finalised by 30 January.

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Member states will tomorrow (6 January) discuss a revised draft of the inter-governmental treaty intended to bolster fiscal discipline in the eurozone, amid calls from MEPs and the European Commission for the accord to have only a limited lifespan.

The European Parliament’s three-MEP delegation and the Commission have urged changes to the draft to require the accord to be folded into the EU treaties “within five years” of its entry into force. The Parliament also wants the accord to lapse “automatically” after seven years.

The two EU institutions are seeking a limited duration to avoid being sidelined, according to Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberals in the Parliament and member of the Parliament’s delegation to the working group. “We want to put this accord back within the EU’s community method as quickly as possible,” he told European Voice.

Tomorrow’s meeting is the second gathering of the 100-member working group created to discuss the treaty, which was drafted by legal experts under Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president. The aim is to have a final draft ready for review by EU leaders at the European Council scheduled for 30 January. The first draft, which was presented on 16 December, calls for stricter budgetary discipline, including a balanced-budget rule, and tougher enforcement, in line with EU leaders’ agreement at their 8-9 December European Council. This text has been criticised by Commission officials, diplomats and MEPs as vague and undermining existing economic governance rules. Amendments have also been submitted by many member states.

‘Not a long-term solution’

An EU official said that as an inter-governmental accord, the treaty was “useful for the moment” but should not be seen as a long-term solution. Transforming it into an official EU text would require an EU treaty change – and this could face another veto from the United Kingdom. It was the UK’s refusal at the December European Council to change the EU’s treaties that obliged the other member states to seek an accord on fiscal discipline through intergovernmental rather than EU-level negotiations.

Parliament supervisory role

Parliament is also seeking a supervisory role for itself within the accord, as well as agreement on gradual introduction of Eurobonds. MEPs want the treaty to contain a road-map by which participating member states will create the “institutional, economical and political conditions” to introduce the bonds at a future unspecified date. Verhofstadt plans to seek “an alliance” with Belgium, Poland, Spain, and the Commission on including the road map.

The Parliament’s amendment states that the bonds should be introduced only “once a sustainable framework is in place aimed at both enhanced economic governance and economic growth in the euro area”. That language is designed to placate Germany, which has vehemently opposed the creation of Eurobonds.

Diplomats and EU officials close to the negotiations consider that the Eurobond proposal is unlikely to survive. They cite German opposition, as well as pressure from the Commission and Van Rompuy to limit the accord to the text agreed by EU leaders in December. But Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a French Green MEP who helped draft the Parliament’s amendments, said the Parliament would fight for the Eurobond’s inclusion: “It will be a hard fight. I hope the Parliament delegation will stick to its position,” he said.