Just when you thought it was safe. A still from Dracula, 1931

Oh no, Lisbon is back...

Why decide to revise a treaty that only came into force last year? In the wake of the decision by Europe’s 27 member states, which aims to protect the single currency, the European press is far from impressed.

Published on 29 October 2010 at 14:15
Just when you thought it was safe. A still from Dracula, 1931

After many hours of talks on 28 October, EU leaders meeting at the European Council in Brussels agreed to impose financial sanctions on economically non-compliant member states. And perhaps even more critically, they approved a plan to revise the Lisbon Treaty to facilitate the creation of a permanent framework for ailing eurozone economies

Headlining with “Merkel wins euro-poker showdown,” Financial Times Deutschland viewsthe meeting as a victory for the German chancellor, who, with support from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, overcame opposition from several member states hostile to any re-opening of the treaty.

“Mrs. Chancellor rules Europe,” runs the Rzeczpospolita editorial. “The EU is in the middle of yet another crisis, but every crisis makes us stronger. And as always, the cure-all is another hearty serving of integration,” quips Marek Magierowski. “Europe must develop and forge ahead at full speed. If it stops pedalling, it will fall over... How many times have we heard this gibberish from Luxembourg politicians, German columnists and Polish experts in European Commission sponsored think tanks?”

Worse than Russian roulette

“Euro-enthusiasts should quickly pick up their pens to explain this turnabout to ordinary citizens, who have no idea why Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy suddenly stopped liking the treaty,” adds Magierowski. “Saving the common currency is of course a noble and praiseworthy cause, but more and more European politicians are asking why the EU has to satisfy Germany’s whims all the time.”

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Writing in El País José Ignacio Torreblanca remarks that “Franco-German entente has brought peace, stability and prosperity to Europe.” However, he insists that we can no longer turn a blind eye to the current behaviour of a Paris and Berlin "eager to cash in on every opportunity to safeguard their strategic interests, even when these are detrimental to other members of the EU.” Dragging Europe’s 27 member states into a further round of ratification against the backdrop of economic and civic crisis “is worse than Russian roulette: it is a bet that could lead to the institutional suicide of the EU."

The ghost of the Lisbon Treaty walks again

In Dublin, this prospect is serious cause for concern. “Appropriately enough, as Halloween approaches, the ghost of the Lisbon Treaty walks again,” laments the Irish Independent. “Surely we are not going to have to go through all that again. Surely, by voting for the treaty (albeit the second time around) we gave the European Union the power to make decisions without calling on the Irish to hold a referendum?” “Unfortunately for us,” the daily continues, ”it is not as simple as that. When the German Chancellor proposes that if a country repeatedly breaches debt and deficit rules its EU voting rights should be suspended, she has Ireland firmly in her sights. And the gun is decidedly frontloaded.”

“The euro and war,“ headlines Lidové noviny. The Prague daily remarks that the euro and the bailout have poisoned relations between European countries. Once again, the Brussels summit has shown that there is no common denominator in the range of increasingly different ideas on how to manage the euro. while political economic and social fault-lines are opening up between member states. “Under increasing pressure, the German chancellor is obliged to prove to her sceptical fellow citizens that their country will not be forced to permanently foot the bill for the indebted countries.”

However, the newspaper argues that Angela Merkel is well aware that another ratification of the Lisbon Treaty to establish measures to sanction countries that overspend “is simply a pipe dream.” Of course, Berlin can always threaten to leave the euro — and studies on the n-euro, a new version of the euro restricted to economically responsible Northern European countries, have already been conducted — but there is no doubt that an initiative of this kind “would inevitably lead to the collapse of the European Union,” warns Lidové noviny.

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