EUROPEAN COMMISSION chief José Manuel Barroso has cast a new revision of the European treaties as a key part of the ultimate solution to the debt crisis, something which could lead to another referendum in Ireland.
Addressing senior EU diplomats yesterday, he said the willingness of euro zone member states to share more sovereignty was not in doubt. He also warned of declining public support for European integration, saying the authorities must act “politically” to maintain support for it.
Mr Barroso is one of four EU leaders – alongside European Council president Herman van Rompuy, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and euro group leader Jean-Claude Juncker – charged with developing a plan to reinforce the euro’s foundations. They are due to report back to heads of state and government later this year with firm proposals.
They first raised the possibility of further treaty change in an initial paper this summer, and Mr Barroso’s remarks place such an initiative at the heart of the effort to renew the single currency.
While he was not specific, his stance chimes with a push for further treaty change by Germany. Any new revision would be the third since the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the latest being the Fiscal Treaty, endorsed by Irish voters in May.
“It would be a complete mistake to suggest that to get out of this crisis Europe can do it only by treaty change. We know that treaty change takes time, so we need to have short-term responses to financial instability we are now feeling in the euro area,” Mr Barroso said. “But short term is not enough because the so-called markets know very well that, in the longer term, the stability of the currency depends also on the political construct and on the solidity of the institutions that are behind it.
“That is why at the same time we are giving short-term answers to the instability we need to have a horizon for the medium and long term. So these issues – short, medium and longer term – should not be seen as incompatible and we have to act on the several areas.” He was fully confident of the willingness of member states to integrate further.
