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Two-day summit was supposed to lay out a grand plan and timetable
for reforming and stabilising the euro regime
Ian Traynor in Brussels
Photograph: JULIEN WARNAND/EPA
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (L) holds a news
conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy (R) at the
end of the first day of the European Council meeting at the European Council
headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 14 December 2012.
European leaders wound up their final summit of 2012 on Friday in
much the same manner as they started the year – kicking the euro crisis
can down the road, playing for time, crossing their fingers, hoping the
worst is behind them.
In almost three years since the Greek drama erupted in February 2010
and spread quickly around the fringes of the eurozone, the leaders have
never quite managed to get ahead of the curve despite 22 summits and
countless meetings of eurozone finance ministers.
This week's two-day summit in Brussels repeated the pattern. It was
supposed to lay out a grand plan and timetable for reforming and
stabilising the euro regime through a battery of federalising political and
fiscal moves. In the event, the documents from the EU council president,
Herman Van Rompuy, were shredded amid more clashes over
fundamentals between Berlin and Paris, while an even more ambitious
blueprint from the Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, was
simply ignored.
"One wonders how these two gentlemen will enjoy Christmas,"
quipped Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP and ardent European
federalist.