Leaders discuss economic blueprint for next decade
EU leaders gave the nod to plans for financial supervision on Thursday night (10 December) with discussion also focusing on the shaky position of Greece's public finances and the bloc's economic blueprint for the coming decade.
"It is of course an important part on how we learn from the financial crisis," said Swedish Prime Minister and current EU president, Fredrik Reinfeldt.
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The political agreement to overhaul the EU's financial supervisory system will see four new European bodies set up, assuming agreement with the European Parliament can be reached next year.
The leaders also discussed a new economic blueprint to replace the much-maligned Lisbon Strategy that expires at the end of 2010, with the EU's incoming permanent president, Herman Van Rompuy, expressing his intentions to host a special European summit on the subject in February.
The European Commission is currently holding a consultation period on the 2020 Agenda – as the new economic plan is being referred to – with the institution set to make a formal submission to EU leaders early next year.
"We need new sources of growth," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou assured the meeting that his government would take all the necessary measures to tackle the country's current budgetary problems, and on Monday will lay out fresh plans.
The Greek deficit is forecast to exceed 12 percent of its GDP this year, with the country's total debt levels expected to reach 125 percent of GDP in 2010 – the highest in the EU.
"Today Prime Minister Papandreou presented to us a very frank and open description of the situation in Greece and his personal determination to face this challenge," said Mr Barroso. Diplomatic sources suggested a further announcement could be made on Friday.
Bonuses
A 30-minute bilateral meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown before the main summit appeared to have eased tensions between the two sides following heated exchanges in recent days.
France indicated it would join the UK in implementing a one-off windfall tax on bankers' bonuses this year, as EU citizens balk at the prospect of large Christmas payouts.
In a pre-budget report on Wednesday, the UK government said it would return money from banks to taxpayers by placing a one-off 50 percent tax on all bonuses that exceed £25,000 (€27,500).
Broader EU support for the initiative appeared to be lukewarn however, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel referring to the tax as "charming."
She did add however: "We want banks and their businesses to pay a share."
Mr Brown remained confident that the idea would spread quickly to other countries.
"I think we are going to reach a satisfactory conclusion in a few months about how we can ensure that banks never again put us in the position where society has to pay such a big price," he said.