The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, outlined the results of the latest European Summit (17 and 18 of June 2011).

Heads of state and government: (i) adopted Europe 2020 strategy to make the EU economy grow faster by increasing employment; (ii) decided to strengthen Stability and Growth pact to control budget deficits and improve economic governance to keep an eye on imbalances within the eurozone; (iii) decided to push for bank levies/taxes, global financial transaction tax on G20 summit in Toronto and (iv) underlined the need for strengthened financial regulation.

Herman Van Rompuy welcomed the strong determination shown by the EU in safeguarding the stability of the euro. In this context, he stressed the economic interdependence of Member States, whether they be in the eurozone or not.

Moreover, he emphasised that coordination of national policies and common action on EU level are required.

While welcoming the results of the Summit, the President of the European Commission stressed that the implementation of Europe 2020 is not only the responsibility of Brussels, but also the Member States.

The different political groups positions may be summarised as follows:

The EPP representative stated that the crisis required a more solid foundation of the euro. She voiced concern about how to put Members States on the spot with regard to their EU 2020 commitments; otherwise the EU would end up with another Lisbon strategy. The S&D Group drew attention to the fact that austerity measures jeopardise economic recovery. The crisis is thus likely to turn into a recession. Stressing that Member States must play an important role in the economic strategy in the coming future, the ALDE leader considered that the most important question was to know exactly who would control and sanction States if and when they did not fulfil the conditions. The representative of the Greens slammed the adversarial approach of the Member States agreeing on supervision while the Council states that a supervisory body is forbidden to intervene. The ECR Group was in favour of reducing budgetary deficits, on the condition that the private sector is able to invest, create jobs and generate growth. The representative of the GUE/NGL Group regretted that the EU only makes a contribution when it comes to raising the age of retirement or restrict public services. He said that people living in poverty will become more numerous. Lastly, the representative of EFD Group questioned the need to maintain the euro, a currency that can not function.

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