EU summit negotiations yield no progress say Greens

Meeting today at the EU summit in Brussels, the EU’s heads of state and government have failed to come to any decision on either banking union or common foreign and security policy, says the  Greens/EFA group.

Commenting on the summit, Greens/EFA President Rebecca Harms said: "This is yet another EU summit that has not produced any results. The leaders seem to be too timid to make any clear decision. The EU’s credit rating downgrading by Standard and Poor's shows that the EU’s leaders are still failing in their handling of the crisis. It is also clear evidence of the weaknesses in the EU’s decision-making processes.

"In addition to this, the decisions on banking resolution are far from sufficient for tackling the problem of bank debt. The fund to be set up for bank bailout is meagre compared to the latent risks in the banking sector. If ever one of the major European banks falters, these funds will not be enough. The decision-making on winding up banks must be carried out by a competent EU authority. If decision-making in this area remains under the influence of the member states, there is a risk that it will be far harder to effectively tackle failing banks.

"There was no progress either on common foreign and security policy. However, the EU urgently needs a strategy to enable it to respond quickly to crises. The Greens underline that under no circumstances should the EU budget be used for defence projects such as drones. Funds intended for civilian research must not be diverted to military projects. The idea of combining the areas of defence policy and management of the EU’s external borders is cynical considering the recent events in Lampedusa.”

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