We have just gotten our hands on the new treaty change language agreed to by the EU’s heads of government, and the change from the original language is very minor – meaning that efforts by Germany and the UK to get additional provisions included was successfully fended off.
Here’s the new language with the new additions in bold:
The Member States whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality.
The text shows a clear effort to satisfy German demands that the new bail-out mechanism only be deployed in extremis, but it falls short of Berlin’s demand that it be explicitly described as a last resort.
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