Remarks from Herman Van Rompuy following the meeting of the European Council

09 December 2011

The 17 Member States of the eurozone and already many others are committed to a new "fiscal compact", a new European fiscal rule, to be transposed into national legislation. It is about more fiscal discipline; more automatic sanctions; stricter surveillance.

An intergovernmental Treaty will make this agreement binding. In combination with secondary legislation and the firm political commitments, this will give the Fiscal Compact its full force. Moreover, this Treaty will be open to non-eurozone countries. Except for one, all are considering participating.

Of course, the European Parliament will be associated in this process. The objective remains to incorporate these provisions into the EU Treaties as soon as possible. As regards the calendar, I see two steps:

• Rather rapidly, following consultations with national parliaments, we should know the number of participating states. I am optimistic because I know that it is going to be very close to 27. In fact, 26 leaders are in favour of joining this effort. They recognise the euro is a common good.
• Then, early March at the latest, this Fiscal Compact Treaty will be signed but, it could be earlier also.

The ESM Treaty will be finalised in the coming days. It will integrate yesterday's important decision that we change the approach to the Private Sector Involvement, bringing it fully in line with IMF principles and practices. The aim is for the ESM Treaty to be ratified by mid-2012.

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