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The 27 heads of state and government spent two days discussing proposals by European Council President Herman van Rompuy aimed at strengthening monetary union. The leaders welcomed the agreement by the Member States' finance ministers to establish joint European banking supervision.
The Council also agreed that Van Rompuy would now flesh out his proposals, in close consultation with the Member States, and submit them to the Council in June 2013.
Prime Minister Rutte said he was pleased that the proposal for a separate eurozone budget had been scrapped. The Netherlands has serious doubts about the added value such a budget would offer and wants to avoid any further increase in Member States' total payments to the EU. Mr Rutte also stressed that in decision-making on the debt crisis, leaders should put quality before speed. "We must achieve an effective form of bank supervision before taking any further steps", he said.
Rutte noted that measures put in place in recent years are now starting to show results, citing tighter budget discipline as an important step. Other measures have been taken to support Greece, and contagion has been prevented. Rutte warned nonetheless that Europe still faces a serious economic crisis. "We are in a stronger position than we were a year ago, and we have made important progress", he said. "But there is still a lot to do."