Europe

Europe

Merkel says EU treaty change would only enforce existing rules

02 December 2011 18:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The changes to the European Union (EU) treaties would just enforce the existing rules and therefore would not require referendums, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday at a joint press conference with visiting Austrian Chancellor Werner FaymannÃ§ APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Referring to a possible referendum after the treaty change, Merkel stressed that "it is not the subject of the current discussion, as we are working within the basic framework, and we have ensured this with a national ’brake’ on debt."

Earlier in the day, Merkel said European countries are striving to create a fiscal union to strengthen fiscal disciplines in fighting the eurozone debt crisis, stressing that the best way forward is seeking limited changes to the EU treaty to create stricter fiscal controls.

For his part, Faymann said a referendum that is needed to compromise the budget sovereignty of all the eurozone member countries will be a long process, so it is not a realistic choice under current circumstance.

"We do not touch on sovereignty over the budget as we only effort to a brake on debt, monitor the brake, just review it, therefore, a referendum is not necessary at all," Faymann said.