EC president: EU at fate-determining moment
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The European Union (EU) was facing a fate-determining moment as the debt crisis forced the 27-nation bloc to undertake ambitious reform, its president said in Brussels on Tuesday.
"We are certainly in a critical moment," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told the Brussels Economic Forum. "The next steps will determine the fate of our economic and monetary union."
The EU this year has hammered out a 110-billion-euro (136-billion-U.S.-dollar) rescue package for Greece and a 750-billion-euro (927-billion-dollar) safety net for other eurozone countries that may face similar difficulties to Greece, but markets appear to remain unconvinced about the EU's ability to avoid contagion.
Van Rompuy said the rescue packages would buy time for Greece and other heavily indebted eurozone countries to consolidate their public finances.
"The EU has now created breathing space for Greece," he said, and it "gives the Greeks time to put their house in order."
Trying to calm nervous markets, Van Rompuy said he was confident the EU would not fail in the debt crisis.
"I am confident they will surmount this crisis," he said.
"We stumbled, but we did not fail," Van Rompuy added.
In addition to the emergency measures, the EU also embarked on ambitious reforms to prevent a recurrence of the crisis.
Van Rompuy said EU member states should combine their efforts to consolidate public finances with structural reforms as well as measures to improve economic governance.
A task force of EU finance ministers and economic experts held its first meeting on Friday, agreeing on four targets for strengthening economic governance of the bloc.
The reforms aim for stricter budget discipline, lesser macroeconomic divergence, more economic policy coordination and a permanent crisis management mechanism in the longer term.
