NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor at European Council meeting

The Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor attended the European Council meeting in Brussels on 28-29 October. Heads of State or Government discussed and agreed on the need for Member States to establish a permanent crisis mechanism to safeguard the financial stability of the euro area as a whole. The European Council endorsed the report of the Van Rompuy Task Force on economic governance. Heads of State or Government also discussed the forthcoming budget of the EU. Prime Minister Pahor sided with those Member States which advocate a more restrictive approach. "Brussels should refrain from sending warnings that we are not keeping fiscal discipline, which are completely besides the point, as Member States are doing all the necessary to comply” underlined Pahor in the discussion. The Council also discussed the preparation of the Cancún conference on climate change and the key EU messages for the upcoming summits with its strategic partners. 

  

At their meeting in Brussels EU heads of state or government agreed on further steps to be taken in order to prevent the risk of a new financial crisis. They agreed on the establishment of a permanent crisis mechanism to safeguard the financial stability of the euro in times of crisis, and on the need to consider adopting legislation that will allow EU institutions to audit Member States' budgets. Heads of state or government also endorsed the report of the Van Rompuy Task Force on economic governance. The establishment of a permanent crisis mechanism is one of the four key recommendations of this report. Others are a new mechanism for macroeconomic surveillance, stronger Stability and Growth Pact, including stricter sanctions for excessive public deficit and public debt, and the implementation of the “European semester” that will allow for coordinated adoption of national budgets and reform programmes.

   

The European Council endorsed the conclusions of the Council of 14 October 2010 on the preparation of the Conference on climate change to be held in Cancún in December. The Heads of state or government underlined that it is crucial that the European Union and its Member States continue to play a constructive role and that they deliver a single message.

  

The European Council also set EU’s priorities for the forthcoming summits of EU with strategic partners, in particular the EU–USA Summit to be held in Lisbon in November.