Here at the Brussels blog, we’re keeping a close eye on the run-up to next Friday’s rare one-day summit of European Union heads of government. And nothing is occupying more of our attention than whether leaders will actually tackle the ongoing eurozone crisis at the conclave.
One of the events that had been closely monitored by the tea-leaf readers was Tuesday night’s private dinner outside Berlin between the two main antagonists in the debate, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
According to people we have talked to, however, there was little meeting of the minds. Even though the dinner lasted for well over three hours – and almost all of it was occupied by discussions of economic policy – there is still no agreement on whether to put reforms touted by Barroso, including a revamp of the EU’s €440bn bail-out fund, on next week’s agenda.
The Friday summit is nominally intended to discuss energy policy and innovation. But Barroso threw down the gauntlet earlier this month by saying EU leaders should give the bail-out fund additional lending strength and new powers to aid struggling eurozone countries at the February 4 meeting.
Merkel has resisted, instead looking for a deal on a broader array of economic issues at the next summit, in late March. But aides for Barroso tell me that he’s still pushing to get reform of the fund, formally called the European Financial Stability Facility, on the agenda for next week.
Readouts from aides in both Brussels and Berlin tell the same story of the Tuesday night dinner, which was held at Schloss Meseberg, an 18th century manse built by German aristocrats that is now used as a federal government guest house: Both Barroso and Merkel laid out their positions, and got into an occasionally heated debate, but no deal was struck.
Aides to both Merkel and Barroso acknowledged the discussion was “lively”, and that disagreements over timing remained.
The smart money seems to be shifting to a March package, however. Ultimately, the decision on what goes on a EU summit’s agenda is left to Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and he is responsible to heads of government, not Barroso’s commission (though Barroso, like EU heads of government, is a member of the Council).
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