Can this summit pull Europe back from the brink?
Published on
By Maxence Peniguet Translated by Rose Kelleher Photo du Conseil européen, février 2011
Today, the 27 Heads of State and Government of the European Union leave their mountains of debt at home and come to Brussels - (Schuman stop for those who come by metro) - to save Europe. The aim is to find ways to reassure the markets, stabilize the situation in the euro area, and ... climate change, too.
We can already say that this summit will be a failure (excepting a last minute surprise), as rating agency Sarko & Merkel has degraded the rating of the visit, calling the Eurozone to meet again in Brussels on Wednesday.
Initially, everything was to get done last Monday, but was postponed because of disagreement in the Paris-Berlin bilateral union (the European Financial Stability - should it become a bank?).
And what about Greece's new haircut?
Herman Van Rompuy, who chairs the European Council, has compiled some rather simple tasks to be fulfilled before the euro "bit". They council is set to adopt a common position on the G20, Qaddafi, the elections in Tunisia, the Egyptians, the Syrians and the climate. The climate is expected to return to the agenda with news of the international conference in Durban in December. Can be daunting.
I bet what everyone is really waiting for is the fate of the Eurozone with the summit in the afternoon. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, and Angela Merkel, German chancellor, announced a certain measure of progress yesterday: recapitalization of banks, the discount of Greece increased to 50% of new loans, and the latter is likely to be granted.
With regard to the German proposal to reign in "lax" countries, one can imagine that the old Franco-German couple has not yet decided. Don't forget: they are not the only ones to decide... in theory.
Follow live on Twitter|en] with the Council.