Callanan: EU summit took euro progress backwards – Leadership lacking in Europe

23 October 2012

In a debate with Presidents Barroso and Van Rompuy, Martin Callanan MEP, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, warned that the meeting had moved backwards compared to the progress made at June's summit towards direct recapitalisation of eurozone banks.

Mr Callanan remarked on the EU being rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that the EU’s post-war peace can be attributed to outstanding leaders who demonstrated remarkable courage. He called for Europe’s leaders to stop putting off difficult decisions and ignoring realities, and start “the serious task of taking the painful decisions urgently required to re-structure the euro and re-launch the European economy".

He said: “Over the summer it has become clear that some key Member States had second thoughts and the few small steps forward were overwhelmed by some pretty giant steps backwards. The only significance of that summit with hindsight was that it represented yet another missed opportunity. The window created by the ECB’s actions to enable political leaders to get ahead of the curve in reassuring the markets was lost. It seems to me that we now have no chance of making headway towards a solution to the crisis before the German elections.“

Full speech

© ECR - European Conservatives and Reformists Group