EU divided over plan for Lisbon Treaty change
Baku, October 27 (AZERTAC). A new Euro-row is escalating over a Franco-German plan to rewrite part of the EU`s Lisbon Treaty.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said talk of treaty change was "irresponsible". The change would tighten the EU rules on national debt.
France`s Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche hit back at the Luxembourg politician on Wednesday, calling her language "unacceptable".
Recently Ms Reding also criticised French deportations of Roma (Gypsies).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will urge other European leaders to accept the need for treaty change at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.
She told the German parliament`s lower house, the Bundestag, that unsustainable debts posed the biggest threat to the eurozone.
The treaty change would bring in sanctions for countries overshooting the maximum debt level allowed under the EU`s Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) - 60% of gross domestic product.
The idea is to have an automatic mechanism enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty that would prevent any repetition of this year`s Greek debt crisis.
The sanctions would be tightened progressively, if a country failed to address its debt problems within months.
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