Chaos as summit to save euro is axed
EMERGENCY action by European Union leaders to save the crumbling euro descended into chaos last night when a crunch meeting of finance ministers was scrapped.
David Cameron was due to head to a Brussels summit today to try to hammer out a £2trillion package of measures to ease the spiralling eurozone debt crisis.
But hopes of a deal appeared to be receding when a gathering of finance ministers – known as Ecofin – to prepare groundwork for the summit was postponed. One senior Brussels official said: “It’s a real mess.”
Money markets reacted badly to the Ecofin cancellation, although officials insisted the decision was a matter of summit procedure rather than indicating a lack of agreement.
The Prime Minister will be irritated by the shambolic events after cancelling visits to Japan and New Zealand to attend today’s summit.
He was embroiled in a row with Nicolas Sarkozy at a chaotic Brussels summit on Sunday, when the French President attempted to have Mr Cameron excluded from today’s gathering.
Hopes of a deal appeared to be receding when a gathering of finance ministers was postponed
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “There was a debate as to what order the meetings should come in – should there be an Ecofin before the European Council or should there be a European Council and then an Ecofin.”
Stating that the EU presidency had decided not to have the Ecofin meeting tomorrow, he added: “They will use where they got to in Ecofin last Saturday to inform the leaders’ discussions.”
A statement from the Polish presidency of the EU said: “Further work at the level of ministers of finance will be conducted based on the outcome of the meeting.”