Euro summit agrees new stability strategies

17/12/10 13:14 CET

world news

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European Union leaders have wrapped up their two-day regular end-of-the-year summit expressing satisfaction with a number of strategies aimed at correcting imbalances in the 27-member bloc. This was their seventh summit this year. That is a record for them, and it was because of the debt crisis engulfing Greece and then Ireland. Market pressures also present risks for Portugal and Spain.

A permanent European stability Mechanism (ESM) has been approved – a financial safety net.

President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy said: “The euro area leaders also underlined that we have a joint economic strategy and a political will to do whatever is required to ensure the euro zone’s stability.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after the summit, said the ESM was an expression of all-round solidarity. She also said 2011 will be a year of reform for a good number of euro zone countries. The aim will be to ratify changes in the EU treaty for the ESM by the end of 2012.

More about: Brussels, EU Summit, Financial Crisis

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