French downgrade and Greek breakdown show it's time to stop fiddling with treaties
Posted, January 14, 2012 @ 11:00
News of further trouble in the talks between the Greek government and its private investors regarding debt restructuring, and a round of credit downgrades by Standard & Poor's, have prompted Conservative leader Martin Callanan MEP to call on EU leaders to stop fiddling with treaties and start tackling the immediate crisis.
With France among those countries downgraded, Martin Callanan said: "Negotiations on a new fiscal union agreement have clearly done very little to calm the markets. Whilst European leaders have been gazing at their collective navel, market confidence has continued to decline.
"We take one step forward and five steps backwards in this crisis. The good news of the bond auctions on Thursday has been rapidly overtaken by the far worse news that the Euro zone contagion is both spreading and growing in severity. If major backers of the European Financial Stability Facility face downgrade then the costs of borrowing in Ireland and Portugal could rise - making it more difficult to bring deficits under control.
"We cannot afford to keep buying time with taxpayers' money. Euro zone leaders must now face up to the reality that the Euro zone disease will not begin to be cured until we remove the infected limb.
"The EU summit at the end of this month really is the last chance saloon for an injection of realism from EU leaders. If we see yet more discussion of treaties, bailout mechanisms and attacks on financial services then I fear we will soon pass the mark where we can salvage anything from the wreckage.
"If European leaders really want to save the Euro, they need to listen to what the markets have already told them: it is time for some countries to leave the single currency. The longer we dither and obfuscate, the worse the crunch will be."