New treaty, rather than treaty change

By Simon Taylor and Ian Wishart - 09.12.2011 / 07:25 CET

UK vetoes changes to Lisbon treaty; group of 23 countries sign up to intergovernmental treaty.

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Eurozone sets out stark choice for Greek voters

A meeting of European Union leaders that had been convened next week to discuss ways of promoting economic growth is shaping up instead to be a crisis summit on Greece.

Deadlocked Greece casts cloud on euro

Political uncertainty jeopardises Greece's ability to receive further instalments of international loans.

An EU-friendly French government?

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and European Minister Bernard Cazeneuve campaigned against EU constitution.

Fact file

At a glance

Governance of the eurozone economy

No change to the Lisbon treaty.
Separate treaty will be signed by eurozone members and six non-eurozone members.
The UK will not sign; the Czech Republic, Hungary and Sweden are undecided.
Eurozone countries committed to balanced budgets.
The role of EU institutions is unclear.
European Commission and European Court of Justice to gain stronger role in enforcement of fiscal rules.
Commitment to enshrine tighter rules in national constitutions.

Crisis measures

€200 billion in additional funding to support troubled states, to be channelled through the International Monetary Fund.
Creation of permanent bail-out fund brought forward to mid-2012.
No agreement on the pooling of eurozone debt, through the creation of Eurobonds.

Other issues on the agenda

Croatia's accession: EU leaders meet again later this morning for the signing of the treaty on Croatia joining the EU. They will also discuss enlargement. They are expected to decide to start accession negotiations with Montenegro in June 2012 and delay until March next year a decision on granting Serbia candidate status.
Schengen's expansion: Leaders will call for a decision on admitting Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen visa-free travel area by March next year. The Netherlands has been blocking the two countries' bid to join Schengen.
Sanctions on Iran: The leaders will also stress their willingness to tighten sanctions on the Iranian regime to force it to abandon its nuclear programme.